Apple Pay is going up against Android Pay, and Samsung Pay, as retail cash registers becomes a major battleground among smartphone manufacturers and OS developers.
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Instead of swiping a card and signing a receipt, shoppers using Apple Pay wave an iPhone-or, soon, an Apple Watch-in front of a wireless reader and complete the transaction with a fingerprint.
Popular coffee chain Starbucks will begin accepting Apple Pay by the end of the year, says Apple Pay vice president Jennifer Bailey, who spoke today at Re/code’s Code Mobile Conference in Half Moon Bay, California.
Bailey also talked about a broader effort to add loyalty programs to Apple Pay.
In addition to Starbucks, Apple Pay will also be available in KFC fast food locations and Chili’s sit-down restaurants starting next year. Apple Pay is now offered in the US and United Kingdom, with Canadian and Chinese consumers expected to be next in line to have the service at their disposal. After all Starbucks seems to be pretty well ahead of the technology by introducing the ability to pay using apps and smartphones, so one would think that they would be quick to jump on board with mobile payments like Apple Pay.
Starbucks has already begun a pilot program in a few of its stores, with the goal to reach all of the chain’s 7,500 stores in 2016. Those only come when using Starbucks’ own app.
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Best Buy is now accepting Apple Pay in all of its 1,400 stores nationwide, she said.
