Apple Pay

Introduction

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Apple Pay was first introduced in the United States during the end of 2014 and shortly after, was launched in Canada a year later (Bradbury, 2015). Apple Pay is also known and accepted worldwide in countries such as China, Australia, and the United Kingdom (Raymundo, 2016).

In order to use Apple Pay, users must have the compatible device with the right version of iOS – 8.1 or newer. In an article by Yamshon & McGarry (2015), all iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus models are compatible because to date, they are the only iPhones that are equipped with the requisite NFC radio antennae. Another factor of compatibility is the touch ID sensor but unfortunately, this is not true for the iPhone 5S. All Apple Pay compatible devices are the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPad Air 2, iPad Mini 3 and Apple Watch (Yamshon & McGarry, 2015).

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As explained by Yamshon & McGarry (2015), the user must link up a credit or debit card to use for payments and some popular choices include MasterCard, RBC Bank, and TD Bank. Most people may already have a form of payment linked to their Apple ID that are primarily used for iTunes and App Store purchases, those users have the option of continuing to use that card. The iPhone will then guide users through the simple setup process which includes verifying the card, giving Apple ID access, and then storing that information into the device’s Passbook (Yamshon & McGarry, 2015).

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Once Apple Pay is finally enabled, users are able to use it at a number of stores that range from Nike, to McDonalds, to Whole Food Market (Yamshon & McGarry, 2015). The number of retail stores that accept Apple Pay is continuously growing because businesses are becoming more familiar with this concept and are beginning to implement and adapt to this new technology (Raymundo, 2016). In order to complete a transaction, customers just need to place their iPhone in front of the wireless payment terminal usually located near the cash register. The neat thing is, that once the iPhone is able to detect that it’s within the range of the terminal, it will automatically wakeup, and initiate the payment process (Yamshon & McGarry, 2015).