How Apple Pay Is Winning Converts to the Mobile Payment Service

By Don Reisinger

One of the interesting things about Apple Pay’s expansion is the range of companies that actually support the service. For a time, Apple was just touting its growing support among banks. But now Apple Pay is being adopted by businesses where credit card transactions are entrenched, such as in-flight services and doctors’ offices. From the small businesses to major enterprises, Apple is gradually wining over businesses that have long been wedded to credit card transactions.

Regional bank First Niagara became the latest financial institution to sign on with Apple Pay on Feb. 5. But there is plenty of support from major national banks, including Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, Citibank and many others, enabling millions of their customers to use the mobile payment service. Having big banks on its side will help make Apple Pay a major player in the marketplace.

Apple has already said that its upcoming smartwatch, Apple Watch, will support Apple Pay. Users will need to double-click on the button next to the Digital Crown and place the watch near a reader. The smartwatch will then initiate a pulse and beep to confirm the connection required to make a payment.

Apple Pay is bundled within a wide range of apps available through Apple’s App Store. If users choose the Apple Pay feature in a supported app, they will be asked to pay with Touch ID. At launch, only a handful of prominent applications included support for the feature. However, as time has gone on, many more app makers have joined the party. Now retailers and service providers that support Apple Pay include Target, car-sharing service Uber and the Disney Store.

To get Apple Pay up and running, users will need to input their credit cards into the Passbook application built into iOS. Passbook is an app that stores everything from boarding passes to tickets and coupons, but it’s now also home to your credit card data. Users simply input their cards into Passbook to be able to use Apple Pay. It’s a relatively quick and simple process.

Lost Mode is a key security feature in Apple Pay. In the event a device is lost, users can access Find My iPhone and choose Lost Mode. Doing so turns off Apple Pay, and it will not be allowed to be used again until the mode is turned off. Alternately, users can wipe a device clean to ensure no one can access their credit card information.

To its credit, Apple has done a good job of securing Apple Pay and making it private. In addition to the aforementioned features, Apple Pay uses a unique identifier for each purchase, so card information is never shared with the merchant. Plus, an encryption feature keeps thieves and digital snoopers from accessing users’ transaction history. One other important feature is that credit card numbers are never stored on Apple servers.

So far, Apple Pay supports three major card types: Visa, MasterCard and American Express. It doesn’t support Discover Card yet. Whether that will change any time soon is unknown. But the support of three of the top credit cards means this won’t be a major issue.

Now that JetBlue has joined the Apple Pay program, it likely won’t be long before other companies join in. As Apple Senior Vice President Eddy Cue said recently, “Somebody else doing it always puts pressure on the other guy.” Several analysts have said that by signing on first, JetBlue has started an Apple Pay arms race that will induce more prominent airlines to jump on the bandwagon.

Looking ahead, Apple Pay is expected to come with all the mobile hardware the iPhone maker releases. Apple has made clear that Apple Pay is central to its mobile strategy, and by bundling it with its new iPhones and iPads it has signaled that the service is a safe bet for merchants and financial institutions. That’s likely why so many credit card companies and retailers have been announcing their support.