Apple Pay Goes International with UK Launch

The electronics giant Apple Inc. has launched their new contactless payment system in the UK. The system, called Apple Pay, allows consumers to use their iPhones to tap and pay in shops that are supporting the launch. Apple Pay allows for iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, and Apple Watch owners to pay for items that cost up to 20 Euros by tapping the device to a payment terminal, similar to a credit card.

The launch in the UK is the very first expansion of the Apple Pay system outside of the United States, where it started last October. The UK is already experienced with the popular use of contact tap to pay card systems, making Apple Pay less of a stranger for consumers to use. With the system, Apple hopes the technology will reduce the amount of items consumers need to carry along and provide increased security of payment.

Apply Pay is essentially a digital wallet that allows consumers to use their credit and debit payment cards through Apple’s Passbook app. The system can be used in a physical high street store as well as online. Apple Pay uses near field communications (NFC) technology that is found in the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, and Apple watch, similar to contactless cards.

However, Apple Pay provides more security than contactless cards as the system provides an extra safety & security measure called tokenization. This security feature ensures that any card information stored on a phone are never received by the retailer, rather the payee gets a single use “token” allowing them to debit the payment only once. In addition, the payments are secured and verified by the fingerprints of the gadget owner via Apple’s Touch ID system. Although this may serve as a slower authentication compared to contactless card, the safety measure serves as an extra layer of protection for security conscious consumers.

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1. david smith
2. Posted on July 16, 2015
computer software

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