Apple Pay to Launch With 500 More Bank Partners
Apple Pay will officially launch Monday, the tech company announced during a news media event Thursday afternoon.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said during the event that the company had signed up 500 new banks and several additional retailers to support the mobile payment platform, beyond the partners that were initially announced.
When the company formally unveiled Apple Pay on Sept. 9, it said the NFC-based system would be available in more than 200,000 retail locations, including Whole Foods, Subway, McDonald's, and Macy's. It also announced a number of bank partners.
During Thursday's event, Cook recapped the features of the mobile payment system that were revealed last month. He also said the latest iPads would support Apple Pay to make online purchases -- though they would not be equipped for point-of-sale transactions in physical retail locations just yet, as the latest iPhones are.
Apple Pay is built into the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. Users can add a credit card from an iTunes account or add a new card by snapping a picture of it with the device's camera. Once the card information is uploaded to Apple Pay, consumers can hold their iPhone in front of a special reader at participating retail locations. The purchase will be confirmed with the Touch ID fingerprint scanner.
Bryan Yurcan is associate editor for Bank Systems and Technology. He has worked in various editorial capacities for newspapers and magazines for the past 8 years. After beginning his career as a municipal and courts reporter for daily newspapers in upstate New York, Bryan has ... View Full Bio