Apple Pay roundup; several weeks of news and analysis
The Boston Globe | Has Apple Pay arrived too late? (11 Sept 2014)
Google Wallet made it a bit more difficult [to get a candy bar at Walgreens]. I had to enter a PIN on my phone screen, and again on the payment terminal screen, before the deal went down. That’s a lot of trouble for a 99-cent Twix bar.
Apple promises to make the process far less tortuous. The company laid the groundwork last year, when it added a superb fingerprint scanner to the iPhone 5s, good for unlocking the phone or buying from the App Store. Apple Pay will use fingerprint scans, not passwords or PINs. Just touch the fingerprint scanner on the phone while holding it next to the checkout terminal. It should be as easy as swiping a credit card.
And more secure, too, according to Apple. All financial data is encrypted, stored on the phone, and never transmitted to Apple. Instead of sending your card number, the iPhone transmits a unique transaction code for each purchase, which is then used for debiting your payment account. Even if the code is intercepted, it can never be used again. That’s the theory, anyway.
And Trey Ford, global security strategist for the Boston computer security firm Rapid7, said the use of transaction codes, instead of card numbers, should cut down on the theft of financial data.
"The market's ripe for this," Ford said. "I'm convinced that Apple has the resources, the relationships, and the wherewithal to build this correctly."
TechNewsWorld | Apple Pay Could Slam Door on Data Thieves (11 Sept 2014)
The Wall Street Journal | Card Issuers Jump Onto Apple Pay Bandwagon (12 Sept 2014)
TheStreet | Apple Pay Is the Latest Reason It Stinks to Be a Traditional Bank (12 Sept 2014)
NBC News | Thumb Here, Please: Apple's iOS 8 Lets You Buy Things With a Fingerprint (12 Sept 2014)
Apple Daily Report | More speculation that Apple is planning a loyalty program (11 Sept 2014)
Reuters (via Yahoo!) | Rivals dash to support Apple Pay for fear of losing out (19 Sept 2014)
Apple Daily Report | Why the Apple Pay launch means mobile payments have finally arrived (2 Oct 2014)
AppleInsider | Even before launch, Apple Pay the 'player to beat' in mobile payments, Morgan Stanley says (7 Oct 2014)
Forbes | A Look At Apple Pay And Its Valuation Impact On Apple (7 Oct 2014) |
