Paying for gas at the pump just got easier for Apple Pay customers.
That's because ExxonMobil has teamed up with Apple Pay to allow its users to purchase gas using the service. With the partnership, ExxonMobil is believed to be the first major gas company to offer its customers the ability to use Apple Pay at such a large number of its locations.
CNet recently received a demonstration of how Apple Pay works at ExxonMobil gas stations, as the writer noted being able to pay for gas from the comfort of her car.
The way it works is simple. Apple Pay customers download ExxonMobil's Speedpass+ app, which allows them to pay via the mobile payment system or by credit card, debit card or checking account information stored on the app. With Google and Samsung also touting their own mobile payment systems, this partnership with ExxonMobil should be considered a coup for Apple.
Making the tech company's life easier was ExxonMobil's approach of focusing on the smartphone's software instead of trying the more arduous route of replacing current gas station payment terminals with the apt technology, which would be a more painstaking process, to say the least.
"Anything that involves the pump from a hardware point of view takes years to deploy and is extremely expensive," Bryant Russell, ExxonMobil's Americas' program manager for mobile payment and loyalty, told CNet during its demo of the app.
According to CNet, as of Tuesday, Apple Pay is offered in upwards of 6,000 Exxon and Mobil gas stations in 46 U.S. states. By the middle of this year, ExxonMobil estimates that Apple Pay will be added to about 2,000 more of its locations, ramping up to accommodate nearly all of the company's 10,000 U.S. locations by the end of the year.
This partnership was made possible due to an updated version of the Speedpass+ app, which uses GPS to track driver location and finds the nearest gas station where Apple Pay is being offered. Users then simply select the pump number for quality of gas, before making the purchase on their smartphone.
CNet specified that users will have to begin fueling their vehicles within 45 seconds or the app will time out, creating the annoyance of starting the process all over. Despite using Apple Pay, customers will still be able to get a paper receipt if they want. If not, the app still tracks purchase history.
"I live in Houston, Texas, so it's blazing hot in the summertime," Russell continued telling CNet, laying it on thick about the new partnership. "I would rather not be out here answering all those prompts, dipping cards, sweating."
Neither would we. Let's see how this works out by the end of the year.
