Apple's plan to change how you pay for everything
That's the vision Apple (AAPL, Tech30) set forth with Apple Pay, a wireless, digital wallet that is coming out in October. To pay for stuff at a store, just put your finger on the iPhone's fingerprint sensor and it hold it up to the register. Beep. You're done.
Want to pay for something in an app? Just tap "Pay with Apple Pay," put your finger on the fingerprint reader, and you're done.
The charge goes straight to your credit or debit card -- whatever you've set up with Apple.
It sounds great, but can Apple really reshape the payments industry the way it did for music and phones?
That's left to be seen -- Apple isn't exactly breaking new ground here.
Apple Pay works by sending payment information via short-range radio waves. The message goes from a special chip inside the iPhone 6 to the register. It's called NFC, short for Near Field Communication. That neat feature is already on lots of Android, Windows Phone and BlackBerry devices and works with Google Wallet, Softcard, PayPal and other services. An estimated 220,000 retail stores already have NFC devices at the register.
But mobile payments systems haven't really taken off.
Why? Primarily because people are worried about getting hacked. In a recent Thrive Analytics survey, 46% said they're worried about security.
Meanwhile, 37% say mobile payments are actually more of a chore. Right now, you have to pull out your phone, unlock it and dial a code. It's no faster than using your trusty, old leather wallet.
And there's no single mobile payments system. Different stores require different apps, and some of those apps don't accept every type of credit card.
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But Apple could be the first to make mobile payments popular in the United States. Apple Pay will be easier, safer, and available with every major credit card -- and at far more retailers than the competition.
Why it's easier: The fingerprint scanner. A simple touch is quicker than typing in your PIN for a debit card, or signing a receipt for your credit card.
That feature could backfire, though. Apple's TouchID system is known to reject an iPhone owner's stored fingerprint. If it proves to be buggy or slow, expect users to skip the option altogether.
But if it works seamlessly, Apple could quickly jump ahead of competitors.
Samsung's Galaxy S5 smartphones let you pay by fingerprint too (using eBay's (EBAY,Tech30) PayPal). But it requires an annoying extra first step: using the app to "check into" a store.