The Apple-Pay website was updated to suggest that some of the service’s partners will not be able to achieve the previous roll-out target date estimated in 2014, says a report from MacRumors. On the website, besides the name of the retailers that entered into a partnership with Apple, “coming later this year” has changed to “coming soon.”
Status changed to “coming soon”
The updated phrase suggests retailers will not be able to roll out Apple Pay support in the last week of 2014, and instead will initiate support in the first months of 2015.
A probable reason behind the delay might be because the retailers which have committed to support Apple Pay are not yet done with their employee training, hardware updates and swapping out point-of-sale systems. A couple of weeks ago, various partners initially mentioned under the “Coming later this year” category started accepting Apple Pay before the end-of-year deadline, including companies such as Walt Disney World, which will start accepting payment through Apple Pay this week, and Ticketmaster, which updated its app to support Apple Pay on Monday.
Retailers mentioned under the “Coming soon” category now include ACME, Albertsons, Anthropologie, Free People, and Urban Outfitters. Apple’s upcoming partners include Starbucks, StubHub, and Tickets.com.
Apple Pay expansion plans
Apple Pay allows iPhone 6 users to pay for items just by moving the phone within the reach of a supported terminal or other payments system. Even though Apple Pay is available on the iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 3, only the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are fitted with the necessary near field communication technology to enable users to pay for physical items at retailers.
Apple Pay has gained appreciation from iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus users since it was launched on Oct. 20. It has been only six weeks, and Apple Pay grabbed a share of 1% of the digital payment dollars in November, with the maximum amount of money being spent at Whole Foods, Walgreens, and McDonald’s.
At present, Apple Pay is available only in the United States, but recent comments from Visa and a recent job posting suggest the company is working on bringing the payments service to new countries.
