Apple Pay has gone live, letting iPhone users pay for goods and services in store by tapping their phone.
The service can store Visa, MasterCard and American Express credit card information and works with the handset’s touch ID fingerprint recognition system.
Compatible with the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and the Apple Watch, the mobile system works by holding the phone up to a card reader and pressing a finger on the TouchID button.
This confirms the person’s identity, and the payment is simply made as if the user had presented and signed their card. All details are encrypted and the system stores payment information securely.
“Our team has worked incredibly hard to make Apple Pay private and secure, with the simplicity of a single touch of your finger,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. “The reaction to Apple Pay has been amazing. We continue to add more Apple Pay ready banks, credit card companies and merchants, and think our users will love paying with Apple Pay.’
Apple Pay is designed to protect the user’s personal information, the firm says. It doesn’t collect any transaction information that can be tied back to a user and payment transactions are between the user, the merchant and the user’s bank.
Actual card numbers are not stored on the device, instead, a unique Device Account Number is created, encrypted and stored in the Secure Element of the device.
The Device Account Number in the Secure Element is walled off from iOS and not backed up to iCloud.
Apple Pay could realistically be a huge business for Apple, but adoption will depend on sales of iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, consumer willingness to change and retailer IT infrastructure.
Apple has partnered with hundreds of banks and more than 220,000 participating stores, including Duane Reade, Bloomingdales, McDonalds, and Whole Foods, with more landing in the coming months.
See below a list of companies that currently accept Apple Pay:
Clothes
• Bloomingdales
• Aéropostale
• Champs
• Macy’s
Footwear
• Foot Locker
• Kids Foot Locker
• Lady Foot Locker
• Footaction
• Nike
• House of Hoops
• Run by Foot Locker
Sportswear
• Champs
• Sports Authority
• Six:02
Technology
• RadioShack
• Apple Store
Pets
• Petco
• Unleashed
Pharmacy
• Duane Reade
• Walgreens
Gas
• Chevron
• Texaco
Food
• McDonalds
• Whole Foods
• Panera Bread
• Subway
• Wegmans
• ExtraMile
Office
• Office Depot
Big Box
• BJs
Kids
• Toys R Us
• Babies R Us
View the image here:
View this video from CNN discussing the deal here: