By FintechNews staff
Apple is introducing a new feature that will allow businesses to accept credit card and digital payments with just a tap on their iPhones, bypassing hardware systems such as Block Square terminals.
In order to accept payments on an iPhone today, merchants need to use payment terminals that plug in or communicate with the phone via Bluetooth. The upcoming feature will instead turn the iPhone into a payment terminal, letting users such as food trucks and hair stylists accept payments with the tap of a credit card or another iPhone onto the back of their device.
The feature, to be launched later this year, will use near field communications (NFC) technology for making all kinds of payments, including between iPhones, Apple said on Tuesday. The tech giant added that it would not know what was being purchased or who was buying it, stressing on the services privacy feature.
It’s unclear whether the payment acceptance option will be branded as part of Apple Pay, though the team working on the feature has been working within Apple’s payments division since being brought over from Mobeewave, the people said. It’s also not known if Apple intends to partner with an existing payment network for the feature or launch it alone.
“Apple views payments as an important standalone business for the company and they are looking to leverage it,” said Shannon Cross, analyst at Cross Research.
“Them venturing into contactless payments is an indication on how important payments are as a business for the company.”
