Apple enticing retail shoppers to sign up for Apple Pay with $5 promo

A promotion starting this week in the U.K. and U.S. to boost adoption numbers for Apple Pay gives users $5 in iTunes credit to users willing to sign up for and pay with the service inside Apple's own retail stores.

The Apple Pay signup offer has retail employees in Apple Stores walking new users through the setup process for the payment service, including linking a compatible bank account for payment. After initial setup, and after the purchase in the Apple Retail store, the $5 is awarded on the spot.

Users can keep the $5 credit, even if the purchased item is returned. AppleInsider has learned that to qualify for the service, the user must present a device without Apple Pay enabled. Existing users are disqualified from receiving the credit.

In February, Apple claimed that the Apple Pay service was available at more than two million retail locations. Rapid adoption has been held up somewhat in the US by slow rollout of EMV chip-card-compatible credit card readers necessary for Apple Pay, with only one in five retailers on-board with the new technology.

Additionally, Apple Pay implementation in Safari, called "Pay on the Web" will launch as part of the macOS Sierra update this fall. Users will see an Apple Pay button during checkout with supporting merchants, and authorize the transaction via Continuity using Touch ID on an iPhone, or with a currently-worn, unlocked Apple Watch.

17 Comments

thrang 1032 comments · 17 Years

About 8 years ago

Big Apple user, but this looks weak. They are not gaining traction with retailers, that's the problem - a $5 credit doesn't address the problem

rwes 200 comments · 11 Years

thrang said:

Big Apple user, but this looks weak. They are not gaining traction with retailers, that's the problem - a $5 credit doesn't address the problem

Agreed, but if this results in a lot more (-Apple-) shoppers attempting to use it (elsewhere), and if they find it convenient enough to begin to use it only at retailers which support it, it could push adoption with the retailers dragging their feet?

It seems kind of like the chicken and the egg problem. Retailers aren't adopting, because they're not seeing the consumer demand maybe, but (most) consumers aren't adopting because they don't know and Apple seems to (or thinks anyway) that they're in the position to educate consumers and drive the demand possibly?

maestro64 5029 comments · 19 Years

I live a small town and I have been finding more and more little mom and pop stores jumping on Apple Pay. This has been surprising since I did not expect them to make the change. I finding more larger chains not switching. They have not even changed to chip and pin yet. They are block the slot to slide the card in.

I am happy to see more local stores supporting Apple Pay, but they are not supporting Android or Samsung Pay.

slprescott 759 comments · 10 Years

A positive sign:

My employer's cafeteria service (Sysco) recently changed its wireless payment solution from a solution usable only here (Freedom Pay) to a solution usable in multiple places (Apple Pay). So now I can use Apple Pay to buy lunch every day... yay! Hopefully a trend.

mike1 3431 comments · 10 Years

maestro64 said:

I live a small town and I have been finding more and more little mom and pop stores jumping on Apple Pay. This has been surprising since I did not expect them to make the change. I finding more larger chains not switching. They have not even changed to chip and pin yet. They are block the slot to slide the card in.
I am happy to see more local stores supporting Apple Pay, but they are not supporting Android or Samsung Pay.

I too have had the same experience. While the big chains try to get their act together, the smaller chains and mom and pop stores are accepting more and more by me. This does beg one question, though...

Is there a way to tell if a merchant is actually accepting Apple Pay or just has an NFC terminal that accepts the cardless payment?