Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday name dropped Apple Pay in a discussion about his company's willingness to partner with payments providers as a route to ad monetization, calling the fledgling service a segment innovator.
During Apple's quarterly conference call for the first quarter of 2016, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced upcoming availability for Apple Pay at ExxonMobil gas stations through that company's Speedpass+ touchless payments system.
Barclays should, after a long wait, add support for Apple Pay sometime in mid- to late March, according to an email from one of the U.K. bank's top executives.
Another 50-plus U.S. card issuers have been added to the list supporting Apple Pay, continuing to outpace the number of merchants actually accepting payments through the service.
A new Samsung TV ad, featuring comedian Hannibal Buress, continues a theme of pointing out that Samsung Pay can be used in stores where Apple Pay isn't supported.
Fresh data from investment firm Piper Jaffray shows Apple Pay adoption hovering between 10 and 20 percent, but analyst Gene Munster expects numbers to rise in 2016 as Apple integrates attractive new features like peer-to-peer payments and in-browser integration.
As Apple gears up to launch its mobile payments offering in China early this year, some Chinese consumers seem to have found the service coming online more quickly than expected.
Supply chain scuttlebutt over a new 4-inch iPhone continues to accumulate, with the latest rumors suggesting Apple will name its revamped handset the "iPhone 5e," with the letter 'e' potentially signifying that it is an 'enhanced' version of the iPhone 5s.
Apple on Tuesday updated the list of U.S. Apple Pay card issuers with 58 more financial institutions, putting the company over the 900 mark and within sight of hitting 1,000 later this year.
In 2015, Apple dramatically enhanced its ability to make money, and at the same time incrementally dismantled the profit engines of its competitors, leaving them even weaker for their next match in 2016. But Apple has several weaknesses related to the core strength of its existing ecosystems that it needs to address over the coming year if it wants to retain and enhance its brand of excellence that drives sales of its premium, profitable hardware.
A new app designed to crowdsource an interactive map of businesses that accept Apple Pay just reported adding 12,673 new merchants in North America, 95 percent of them being small businesses. In parallel, its developer reported that the new app's users have increased an incredible 750 percent over the past two days, indicating a lot of interest in Apple Pay.
News somehow managed to keep up the pace right before the Christmas break, with major seat changes at Apple and hints at future products, including new iPads and the so-called iPhone 7.
Apple on Thursday announced it has reached an agreement with Chinese bankcard processor UnionPay to offer Apple Pay services in China early next year, opening the iOS-based mobile payments product to an increasingly important — and vast — Asian market.
Apple on Tuesday added another 66 financial institutions to its list of U.S. card issuers for Apple Pay, as well as promised support for BJ's Wholesale Club store cards.
Walmart on Wednesday announced it will be entering the mobile payments business with a branded system called Walmart Pay, a direct competitor to existing solutions from the likes of Apple, Alphabet and Samsung.
The aftermath of the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday kept news relatively quiet, but rumors of a new 4-inch iPhone persisted, and Samsung finally agreed to pay out $548 million to Apple — with conditions.
Apple on Wednesday added another 40 U.S. banks to the list compatible with Apple Pay, bringing the total close to 800 as it prepares to improve merchant support as well.
If Apple does indeed get into rumored person-to-person money transfers via Apple Pay, the company stands to lose money on each transaction in the short term, accepting the losses as a way to further drive adoption of its mobile payment service, analysts believe.
U.S. big-box retailer JCPenney is currently testing Apple Pay support for its store cards, with plans for an official introduction sometime in the spring of next year, a shopper's anecdote indicated on Monday.
Apple has allegedly reached a tentative agreement with China UnionPay, which could see Apple Pay come to China via UnionPay's 5 million or more NFC-equipped point-of-sale terminals.
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Mikey Campbell
Roger Fingas
AppleInsider Staff
Neil Hughes
Daniel Eran Dilger
