Roger Fingas
Asian-themed restaurant chain Pei Wei announced the launch of Apple Pay support on Wednesday, as big-box retailer Target simultaneously began testing Bluetooth beacons at 50 of its locations.
Pei Wei enables Apple Pay
Apple Pay should now be available at all of Pei Wei's U.S. restaurants, numbering just under 200, the company said. In July, a pilot program tested Apple Pay at 16 Pei Wei restaurants in Phoenix, Arizona. The technology actually became usable across the chain on Tuesday, but the company waited a day to make an official announcement.
Retail support for Apple Pay has been gradually expanding since the service launched in October 2014. Although dozens of companies are already onboard, many national U.S. chains — like Anthropologie, Best Buy, JCPenney, and Trader Joe's — have only pledged support, and not yet implemented it. Best Buy, at least, is due to launch by the end of the year.
Target experiments with Bluetooth beacons
When walking into one of the trial stores, people with the latest version of the Target iPhone app may be pinged with alerts about deals and recommendations, TechCrunch noted. To prevent unwanted spam, users will first have to opt into location sharing and notifications, and Target is promising that shoppers will get no more than two alerts per trip. These notifications can appear as both standard iOS notifications or in the app's Target Run tab.
The pilot stores are spread across Chicago, Denver, Minneapolis, New York City, Pittsburgh, Portland, San Francisco, and Seattle. The company is aiming to expand nationwide by Christmas, and add at some point add Android support.
The app should gain more beacon-connected features over time, such as automatic reorganization of shopping lists while walking through an outlet, and the ability to request help from clerks.
Target remarked that while it collects data from the app to track trends and preferences, beacon data is specifc to in-store locations.
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27 Comments
It's nice that more and more banks are accepting ApplePay but I'd be great if more and more locations are accepting ApplePay.. That's what I'd like to read in the news more..
It's nice that more and more banks are accepting ApplePay but I'd be great if more and more locations are accepting ApplePay.. That's what I'd like to read in the news more..
It is going start happening in a big way very soon because the EMV-compliant POS system deadline is October 2015. I'm not sure why so many retailers have not upgraded yet but there will probably be a big rush at the last minute. Since they will have to replace all their CC readers they will most likely opt for the NFC capable readers at that time. At that point there would little reason not to accept ?Pay.
Not sure if Macy's is supposed to take ApplePay, but I tried it last weekend. The transaction showed up on my iPhone 6 and when I pressed the TouchID, I got the confirmation sound and it said "Done". But the cashier said it didn't go through. So I swiped my card. When I checked my account later, it showed only one transaction. On the other hand, here in the south, Publix supermarkets is big. I asked a manager (again) when they were getting ApplePay and she said it was supposed to be implemented in August, but they were waiting for all stores (over 1,000) to be ready.
I think some of the vendors that are installing the new EVM compliant terminals are spreading FUD about Apple Pay and convincing IT departments to shutoff NFC. I am seeing a lot of the new terminals around the DFW area and I always try Apple Pay. Some of the same exact terminals work at some merchants and not at others, so there is no doubt that NFC is intentionally being disabled.
What is refreshing is that the smaller the merchant, the more LIKELY that NFC is up and running and as we all know, that is ALL that is required for Apple Pay. For instance, our vet got a new terminal shortly after the iphone6 rolled out and I tried Apple Pay. They had no idea what I was about to do and it shocked them, and me, when it worked. I have since used my apple watch at the vet and that really blew them away.
I am surprised to see Pei Wei jumping onboard Apple Pay as seemed that they might well be secretly getting things setup for CurrenC since their loyalty program used QR codes. I refused to join their program even though we eat their several times a month.
“Pay Way”, huh? Sounds like Xiaomi’s eventual knockoff of ApplePay…