Apple Pay to Hit Starbucks Stores This Year--Update
October 08 2015 - 8:12PM
Dow Jones News
By Douglas MacMillan
Apple Inc.'s fledgling mobile-payment service is getting a boost
from Starbucks Corp.
The coffee retailer will begin accepting Apple Pay in some U.S.
stores this year, Jennifer Bailey, Apple's head of payments, said
Thursday at a tech conference in Half Moon Bay, Calif. All 7,500
U.S. coffee stores owned by Starbucks will accept Apple Pay by the
end of 2016, Ms. Bailey said.
The rollout could help Apple broaden consumer appeal for its
mobile payments, a technology that has failed to gain wide adoption
despite many high-profile efforts by numerous tech giants. Apple's
service, launched a year ago at about 220,000 U.S. locations
including McDonald's and Macy's, prompts shoppers to ditch their
wallet and make purchases with an iPhone.
Instead of swiping a card and signing a receipt, shoppers using
Apple Pay wave an iPhone--or an Apple Watch--in front of a wireless
reader and complete the transaction with a fingerprint.
More than one million stores now accept Apple Pay, a number the
company predicts will grow to 1.5 million by the end of this year.
In addition to Starbucks, Apple said Yum Brands Inc.'s KFC and
Brinker International Inc.'s Chili's plan to accept the payment
service. An integration with Best Buy Co., that was announced
earlier this year, went live in the electronics retailer's 1,400
stores this week.
Previous efforts by Google Inc., eBay Inc. and a host of
startups to prod shoppers to pay for purchases with a mobile phone
have languished, because consumers didn't see an advantage over
swiping a credit or debit card.
During the onstage interview Thursday, Ms. Bailey said Apple's
service is growing in popularity because it has focused on its
users, not on making money.
"Some of our predecessors in the space were focused on the
business model," she said. "We were focused on, 'How do you make
the best customer experience?'"
Ms. Bailey said retailers are beginning to customize the payment
service in different ways, such as adding digital versions of
loyalty cards or making it easy for restaurant customers to pay
from their table, without the help of servers.
The next big area for expansion could be travel, where consumers
rely heavily on their phones for information and entertainment, Ms.
Bailey said. Apple Pay could soon be used to help airline
passengers order and pay for food and movies, she said.
Ms. Bailey's interview at the tech conference was a rare public
appearance for a high-ranking woman at Apple. She said the company
has put more effort into improving diversity in its ranks, creating
an inclusion and diversity team and supporting programs such as the
National Center for Women & Information Technology.
"It's something that we talk about more," Ms. Bailey said. "But
I feel like Apple is a meritocracy; it's about what you do and how
you do it. The core culture hasn't changed."
Write to Douglas MacMillan at douglas.macmillan@wsj.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 08, 2015 19:57 ET (23:57 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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