Following up on a press release issued alongside the initial introduction of Apple Pay, Citibank and Wells Fargo have both started emailing customers with a "coming soon" introduction to the new mobile payment feature associated with iPhone 6.
Every new product Apple unveiled last week has ignited vocal, public derision from a series of threatened competitors, including Samsung, luxury watch maker LVMH and PayPal. However, their attempts to direct attention away from Apple may likely backfire, just like earlier attempts to demonize Siri, Maps, iCloud and Touch ID.
Major U.S. banks are set to engage in an advertising dogfight — designed to sway consumers' choice of their default Apple Pay card — as they look to take advantage of the simple one-touch mobile payment flow found on Apple's next-generation iPhones to boost profits.
According to a report on Monday, Apple is restricting developer access to the NFC module found in the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, limiting the component to first-party Apple Pay services only.
Ahead of Apple's Apple Pay release, mobile and online payments stalwart PayPal on Monday took out a full-page ad in The New York Times, warning consumers of Apple's security practices by alluding to the recent leak of photos stolen from celebrity iCloud accounts.
Ahead of the iPhone 6 debut, Apple's first device to incorporate NFC and Apple Pay, the company has become a full paying member of GlobalPlatform, an association looking to standardize infrastructure relating to secure applications and smart chip technology.
Details of Apple's upcoming Apple Pay mobile payments system are starting to emerge, with a report on Friday claiming the company will garner 15 cents on a $100 purchase, more than Google managed for its Google Wallet initiative.
Though the Apple Pay system will debut initially in the U.S. alone in October, Apple reportedly has plans in place to begin expand its mobile wallet service internationally to China through partner China UnionPay Co.
A detailed look at Apple's new Apple Pay mobile and online payments solution reveals the reasoning behind decisions from credit card issuing banks to not only adopt the service, but offer low per-transaction fees.
Apple's new Apple Pay system has the potential to become a huge revenue driver, as the iPhone maker has reportedly reached agreements with its partner banks to take a cut of the revenue earned from so-called "swipe fees" when consumers make purchases through the platform.
Apple might soon have all four major U.S. card issuers on board with its new Apple Pay service, as Discover confirmed on Tuesday that the firm is in talks to sign on. Meanwhile, Apple's new Swift programming language has hit version 1.0 as iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite near release.
Apple will enter the mobile payment space in a big way with this month's launch of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, both of which will ship with integrated near-field communications technology to allow secure wireless payments through a service called Apple Pay.
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Daniel Eran Dilger
AppleInsider Staff
Mikey Campbell
Neil Hughes
