Apple Pay comes to 7-Eleven and CVS later in 2018

Apple Pay is making its way to two of its fiercest opponents. As part of Apple's financial results call, Tim Cook revealed that both 7-Eleven and CVS would introduce support for the tap-to-pay service (and, by extension, equivalents like Google Pay) later in 2018. He also confirmed that Germany would offer Apple Pay by the end of the year. There wasn't any mention of how quickly it would roll out to the two retailers or why they'd changed their mind, but the news likely represe nts an admission of defeat for the two store chains.

If you'll recall, both 7-Eleven and CVS were members of Merchant Customer Exchange, the alliance that created the CurrentC mobile payment format. It was supposed to help stores both cut transaction fees and gather more shopper data, and retailers even dropped support for tap-to-pay to spur adoption. They were fully ready for the future of shopping -- just so long as they had full control over that future.

Of course, that's not how it panned out. CurrentC's protracted development time gave services like Apple Pay plenty of room to grow, and the clunky QR code system was far less appealing than tapping your phone at a terminal. Companies like Best Buy and Rite Aid soon changed their minds, and JPMorgan Chase effectively signaled CurrentC's failure by buying the technology in 2017. Simply put, 7-Eleven and CVS have little choice but to embrace tap-to-pay if they want to keep with the times.

And the market is growing. Cook mentioned during the call that there were over 1 billion Apple Pay transactions during the company's third quarter, or triple what it had seen a year earlier. That was more overall transactions than Square over a similar period, and more mobile transactions than PayPal. In that light, 7-Eleven and CVS would be fighting against the tide if they'd refused Apple Pay support for much longer.



via Engadget RSS Feed https://ift.tt/2v5mtSR
RSS Feed

If New feed item from http://www.engadget.com/rss-full.xml, then send me

IFTTT

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Evernote cuts staff as user growth stalls

Image
Note-taking app Evernote has fallen on hard times of late, culminating in its latest spate of job cuts impacting 15 percent of its workforce (54 employees). CEO Chris O' Neil -- an ex-Googler who took the reins in 2015 -- announced the firings at an all-hands meeting earlier today, reports TechCrunch . In a message on the Evernote blog , O' Neill admitted he'd set "incredibly aggressive goals" for the company in 2018. He continued: "Going forward, we are streamlining certain functions, like sales, so we can continue to speed up and scale others, like product development and engineering." The layoffs follow an exec exodus just weeks ago and the company's recent brand refresh (complete with a refined logo and wordmark). But critics are more concerned about its product, especially the free tier, which they claim lacks the perks to...
Read more

The best air conditioner

Image
By Liam McCabe This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter . When readers choose to buy Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its work. Read the full article here . After six summers of researching, testing, and recommending window air conditioners, we've learned that quiet and affordable ACs make most people the happiest—and we think the LG LW8016ER will fit the bill in most rooms. This 8,000 Btu unit cools as efficiently and effectively as any model with an equal Btu rating, and runs at a lower volume and deeper pitch than others at this price. Little extra features like a fresh-air vent, two-axis fan blades, and a removable drain plug help set it apart, too. The LG LW8016ER is a top choice for an office or den, and some people will find it quiet enough for a bedroom, too. If our main pic...
Read more

We won't see a 'universal' vape oil cartridge anytime soon

Image
Pre-loaded cartridges of cannabis concentrate are currently among the most popular means of consumption, and for good reason. They're discreet to use and easy to handle, a far cry from the dark days of 2016 when we had to dribble hash oil or load wax into narrow-mouthed vape pens by hand. But, frustratingly, an ever increasing number of oil cartridge manufacturers employ one-off design standards so that their products won't work with those of their competitors, thereby locking customers into proprietary ecosystems. We've already seen this with nicotine vaporizers -- which has a seen a massive rise in "pod systems" in the last few years, each outfitted with a unique canister and battery built to be incompatible with those of their competition. Is it too late for the burgeoning cannabis industry to set a universal standard for their product designs? ...
Read more