Apple on Tuesday updated its U.S. Apple Pay roster with 13 more supporting card issuers, filling in an increasingly tiny number of regional gaps.
The additions join a list of hundreds of participating banks and credit unions, most of them based in small sections of the country, a single state, or even just a single city. National banks, such as Chase and Bank of America, were largely onboard within the first year after Apple Pay's Oct. 2014 debut.
The complete list of additions includes:
- Community National Bank & Trust of Texas
- First State Bank of Mendota
- First State Bank Southwest
- Great Plains Bank
- Great Southern Bank
- Holyoke Credit Union
- Icon Credit Union
- Landings Credit Union
- Mascoma Savings Bank
- McIntosh County Bank
- Park National Bank
- Texas Brand Bank
- Xplore Federal Credit Union
iOS 11 — likely launching later this month, after a Sept. 12 iPhone event — will introduce two new features to Apple Pay. These include Cash, a PayPal-style holding account, and person-to-person transfers, done through Messages. Both will initially be limited to the U.S.
The company may also tip international expansion plans, one possible target being Germany, despite tough negotiations.
8 Comments
Funny how everyone disregards this kind of thing when talking about so called X pay systems.
By the time those wake up, Apple will have done the nitty gritty of covering even the smallest of banks.
That's going to be very convenient when Apple Cash hits big.
Cool that they're picking up banks, but for my purposes, I'd rather have them pick up retailers like Home Depot and Target. I get why places like Target don't want to support Apple Pay (they don't get to collect data on me), but it does make me less likely to shop at those places. I've moved to getting most of my groceries from places like Trader Joe's and Fresh Thyme, but every once in a while I need something from Target, and I always notice how much slower and more finicky the chip readers are. (Put card in, wait for a few seconds. If you wait too long, you get an annoying tone. If you don't wait long enough, you get an error.) Not a big deal, of course, just a minor annoyance. Chip card almost seem like they should be old technology, given how much faster the magnetic strips worked (I know the security of magnetic strips is horrible, but the experience is better. ) Given how quick Apple Pay seems to be, I wonder why the chips aren't faster.