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I use LevelUp, which is QR code based, to pay for lunch probably 2-3 times a week. I don't think I've used Apple Pay once this year. Using LevelUp gets me points and rewards from the restaurants that support it (quite a few in NYC), just like the Starbucks app, but there's no benefit to convince me to use Apple Pay. It's slower than just using my physical Amex card.
I know for myself I won't support stores who don't have Apple Pay. I will literally stop in my tracks and look for somewhere else that supports Apple Pay.
 
I don't mind the Starbucks app. And I find myself with a few starbucks cards as gifts every year it seems. But ApplePay is great. Still my hope that it really takes off in the U.S.
 
I am in the U.S. I use Apple Pay whenever I can. Most of the time it is a smooth and very efficient operation with either phone or watch. Some merchants, however, still require you to sign the receipt after paying through Apply Pay, which eliminates all productivity benefit (especially compared to chip cards that take forever to execute a payment transaction).

The other reason I like to use Apple Pay over my credit card, is that the transaction itself is secure, i.e. no credit card information stays with the merchant (at least that is what I understand).
 
This is the way I see it too. It’s just like the younger generations embracing streaming vs traditional cable. Most will have hardly used regular tv in 10 years, and it’ll be the same with plastic cards. It’s how you grow up. Older folks used cards most their lives, that’s what they’re use to. Most younger folks don’t even carry their credit cards let alone have that many.
??????? How about keeping five dollars in your wallet to pay for your coffee....how long does it take?
 
I can't believe it's so popular. I hate the way it works, having to reload a gift card. I'd much rather just use a debit/credit card on file. Oh well, I guess I'm too old. :confused:
You can set up auto-reload (i.e. it automatically adds an amount of your choice when the balance falls below a certain amount). That way you don't have to reload and still get the rewards. But even manual reloading with Apple Pay is super-easy since it takes just a few taps.
I hate the starbucks app, but go to starbucks all the time, and since still no full support for Apple Pay I have to use their cruddy app, rather than putting out my apple watch wrist and completing the transaction without having to fumble to open an app.
The app can load the Starbucks card into Apple Wallet. That way you can easily bring it up with a double-click from the lock screen without ever opening the app. You can even show the barcode on the Apple Watch.
Also it notes 50% starbucks market share in us, but feels like 5% since the places Apple customer's typically go don't support it. No support at Starbucks, Target, Gas Stations, Websites using chrome and all the other common places people typically shop. Once it does, there will be mass adoption.
You can actually use Apple Pay at many (most?) Starbucks stores.
 
Though it is a purchase. You are pre-paying a set amount that goes on your starbucks card, so in essence the starbucks card just deducts from that balance.
What you're describing is more akin to making a deposit, not a purchase. Either way, I seriously doubt they are tracking what people use to load up a Starbucks card. It would be kind of useless info.
 
I use Gold VISA cards because of the far superior travel insurance (amongst other advantages) that's included and from the advise given to me by my bank, the use of Apple Pay - irrespective of the fact that its connected to the card, doesn't guarantee me coverage as if I have directly used my card.
If you read the fine print you will see that using Apple Pay usually gives the exact same benefits as using the actual card. However you do not get the same benefits when using the same card with other mobile payments such as Android Pay, Samsung Pay, etc. I don’t know if credit card companies have more confidence in Apple or what.
 
How is Apple Pay in the US now. I'm in the UK and don't bother carrying a credit card any more - Apple Pay (and Android Pay) is taken enywhere - shops, restaurants, gas stations, bars etc etc. Same in US?

In a way, it's easier to use in the UK since you can use for many more restaurants. In the UK, they give the user access to the CC payment machine so there is much more likely a chance to use mobile (NFC) payment. In the US, at a sit-down restaurant, they take the card and swipe it elsewhere, so no mobile (NFC) payment system can work. And at many other places, the card reader is not customer accessible as well (built into the register so only the cashier has access), so again, no NFC payments. I certainly enjoyed that I could use Apple Pay in the UK.
 
It does show that there is more to mobile payments than just making the purchase. Starbucks has a point system in addition. Interesting that Starbucks supports Apple Pay in terms of recharging your Starbucks account.

Apple Pay needs to be updated with these kind of things in mind.
 
For the life of me I don't know why people would allow a company to hold their personal funds in escrow, making money off the interest. It's puzzling, but hey to each his own I guess.

Shrug. I reload the app with about $25 each month. That $25 is not going to generate a lot of interest for either party. And since I reload via a gift card from the grocery store, I get 2-4x fuel points and 6% cash back on the credit card, I get a little something back when I give SBUX my money.
 
For the life of me I don't know why people would allow a company to hold their personal funds in escrow, making money off the interest. It's puzzling, but hey to each his own I guess.

Yea think of the gains they could be making on that $20. I mean, how much does any one person keep on their Starbucks card at a time?

It makes their prices a little more palatable so it's well worth it to me, although I visit only 2 or 3 times a month.
 
A. If apple gave you free Frappuccinos after earning 125 points on Apple Pay, they'd pick up.
B. Maybe part of it is I can't use Apple Pay in Starbucks to refill the app because the insecure WiFi makes Apple Pay say, "Here, are you nuts?" and shut down. Same thing with checking my bank balance. Siri says, "Boss, don't be stupid."
 
I can't believe this. I feel like someone is operating on inflated/inaccurate numbers here. I remember there was a story that Wal Mart Pay was beating Apple Pay even though Wal Mart pay was only available at Wal Mart at the time-- Couldn't believe that one either. I believe Apple Pay isn't doing as well as people expect, but I can't believe that Starbucks' system is getting more daily users than a payment system available to almost every other retailer on earth.

And that's why real science is based on many real data points as opposed to what one person thinks the numbers should be.
 
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What I think everyone seems to forget is that using Apple Pay isn't any simpler than using my credit card.

I disagree.

Yes... I still have to "pull something out"... but to me it's much simpler to use Apple Pay.

With a card... depending on the store... first you have to determine whether you insert the card using the chip... or swipe it old-school style.

Then you get quizzed by various questions that popup on the screen:

"Debit or Credit?"
"Is this a debit card?"
"Is the total correct?"
"Amount OK? Yes/No"

So there are a couple button-presses there.

Then you input your PIN and press OK.... so that's another 5 button-presses.

And that's while you're holding your wallet in one hand and using your other hand to actually use the card.

It takes two hands to use a card.

But with Apple Pay... I pull my phone out of my pocket... thumb already on the home button... activate Apple Pay with that same button... and keep my thumb there to authenticate with TouchID. It's one simple movement.

I only use one hand and one thumb to pay with Apple Pay.

I don't even touch the card reader when I use Apple Pay.

To be clear... I'm not saying it's some kind of hardship to use a debit card with a card reader. We've been doing it for years.

But Apple Pay takes much fewer steps. I don't have to type a PIN and press a bunch of buttons to answer a bunch of questions that vary by store.
 
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I use ApplePay as often as I can, I find it very convenient, especially with an Apple Watch. It is, however, frustrating that so few retailers have chosen to participate. Just this past weekend I went shopping. I went to the following major retailers in the Houston area. Target, JC Penney, TJ Maxx, Kroger, HEB, Home Depot and Lowes. None of them accepted ApplePay, but several cashiers told me that they would accept Samsung Pay, probably because Samsung use Magnetic Secure Transmission, which work with a standard card reader.
Perhaps this is also the reason that among my friends who all own ApplePay capable iphones, only about one in ten actually have it enabled.

ApplePay has a long way to go for it to be really practical.

JCPenney takes it. Or well, is supposed to anyway.

In a way, it's easier to use in the UK since you can use for many more restaurants. In the UK, they give the user access to the CC payment machine so there is much more likely a chance to use mobile (NFC) payment. In the US, at a sit-down restaurant, they take the card and swipe it elsewhere, so no mobile (NFC) payment system can work. And at many other places, the card reader is not customer accessible as well (built into the register so only the cashier has access), so again, no NFC payments. I certainly enjoyed that I could use Apple Pay in the UK.

Yep. In fact, most merchants in the US (especially smaller ones) absolutely hate accepting cards at all and aren't going to do more work than absolutely necessary. I don't think Apple Pay will ever be usable at 100% of locations simply because of this--at least not in the short to medium term.

Maybe if there's a significant discount on interchange for contactless transactions or something. Say, 1% instead of 3%. I bet Walmart turns it on tomorrow if that were to happen. (Or maybe not, but it's interesting to think about.)
 
The only reason I use their payment method is due to rewards program. I would rather use Apple Pay, actually I usually load up the Starbucks card via Apple Pay before using the Starbucks card, if also included the rewards program, like Walgreens does.
 
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By the end of 2018, an estimated 23.4 million users in the United States will be paying for their coffees and bakery items at Starbucks using the company's own in-store mobile payment system. The estimate comes from research firm eMarketer (via Recode), which also predicts that Apple Pay will hit 22 million users by the end of the year.

[...]

eMarketer also points out that Starbucks launched in-store mobile payments before Apple, Google, and Samsung debuted their dedicated mobile wallets, so early adoption could be helping its success. The app also includes a rewards program that earns customers free food and drinks every time they pay using the Starbucks app.

What a bizarre way of describing using the Starbucks system. It's a reloadable gift-card, with an associated app that displays the gift card's barcode. That's it. Is every reloadable gift card with a barcode that can be displayed on a phone now an "in-store mobile payment system"? We might as well be discussing Applebees' "in-store mobile payment system." (Assuming Applebees had a reloadable gift-card, and an app that could display the card's barcode, which I don't believe they do, but I'm just using them for illustrative purposes.)
 
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It’s generational. I exclusively use Apple Pay (in Canada).

I use Apple Pay pretty much exclusively here in the UK. But one place I don't use it is Starbucks. Because if you pay using their app you earn stars towards free drinks and "gold" status.

There's also an incentive to break up your transaction into multiple payments (when ordering multiple items) because then you get more stars ;)
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What a bizarre way of describing using the Starbucks system. It's a reloadable gift-card, with an associated app that displays the gift card's barcode. That's it.

Err, there's a lot more to it than that. There's a whole rewards programme with freebies and elite status and everything. And you can actually order through the app, too, skipping the line at the store or having your order ready and waiting before you arrive.
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I disagree.

Yes... I still have to "pull something out"... but to me it's much simpler to use Apple Pay.

I agree, Apple Pay is simpler than a contactless credit card. If only because its quicker to pull my phone out of my pocket than to pull out my wallet, open said wallet, flick through cards to find the right one, etc.

Apple Pay used to be slightly annoying with the old Touch ID, but now with Face ID its extremely quick and painless.
 
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In a way, it's easier to use in the UK since you can use for many more restaurants. In the UK, they give the user access to the CC payment machine so there is much more likely a chance to use mobile (NFC) payment. In the US, at a sit-down restaurant, they take the card and swipe it elsewhere, so no mobile (NFC) payment system can work. And at many other places, the card reader is not customer accessible as well (built into the register so only the cashier has access), so again, no NFC payments. I certainly enjoyed that I could use Apple Pay in the UK.
That’s changed quick here in AZ. NFC is just about everywhere and they’re installing it on busses! And trains too!
 
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I disagree.

That's fine. And I don't discounts differences in opinion. However not everyone lives in the US and the moment I can't ubiquitously use Apple Pay (or any other payment service) as much as I can with credit card it's a situation where I must always have an alternate form of payment because I will *NEED* that alternate form of payment. I can ubiquitously use a credit card in the reverse.
 
What I think everyone seems to forget is that using Apple Pay (or Samsung Pay - or whatever equivalent) isn't any simpler than using my credit card. I still have to do something… I still have to pull something out… I still have to validate. So where's the advantage?
It is definitely faster than the new chip card readers. But more importantly (for me) it's more secure due to the dynamic security codes, and provides more privacy since the retailer doesn't see your name or real credit card number, which makes it harder for them to track you.
Apple doesn't offer me points or any rewards program so why would I prioritise it over something that does??
I agree it would help adoption. But some banks have been offering rewards for using Apple Pay (e.g. in the last quarter the Chase Freedom card gave 5% cashback on all Apple Pay transactions).
 
Who doesn't like their coffee :) Besides. the stores are probably open earlier anyway than Apple is.
 
For the life of me I don't know why people would allow a company to hold their personal funds in escrow, making money off the interest. It's puzzling, but hey to each his own I guess.

Well, that's easy. The value of the points > the value of the interest. They have at most $25 of my money at any given time. Let's say they earn 4% on that, which is way more than I'd get with it sitting in my checking account. That's $1/year. Just going every now and then I can easily earn $10+ in rewards from points / year, so it makes sense.
 
That's fine. And I don't discounts differences in opinion. However not everyone lives in the US and the moment I can't ubiquitously use Apple Pay (or any other payment service) as much as I can with credit card it's a situation where I must always have an alternate form of payment because I will *NEED* that alternate form of payment. I can ubiquitously use a credit card in the reverse.

Of course.

My point was about simplicity.

If you had the choice between using a credit card or Apple Pay... the credit card requires many button presses and answering a bunch of questions.

And two hands.

:p
 
I use Apple Pay pretty much exclusively here in the UK. But one place I don't use it is Starbucks. Because if you pay using their app you earn stars towards free drinks and "gold" status.

There's also an incentive to break up your transaction into multiple payments (when ordering multiple items) because then you get more stars ;)
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Err, there's a lot more to it than that. There's a whole rewards programme with freebies and elite status and everything. And you can actually order through the app, too, skipping the line at the store or having your order ready and waiting before you arrive.
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I agree, Apple Pay is simpler than a contactless credit card. If only because its quicker to pull my phone out of my pocket than to pull out my wallet, open said wallet, flick through cards to find the right one, etc.

Apple Pay used to be slightly annoying with the old Touch ID, but now with Face ID its extremely quick and painless.


I also use the Starbucks app. Starbucks has found a way to convince people to use their own payment system by giving out rewards. I do however load my Starbucks card using Apple Pay :p
 
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