Apple recently took the wraps off its new contactless payment system - Apple Pay. Now PayPal has taken out a newspaper advert attacking Apple Pay, suggesting that the system is as safe as selfies in iCloud (hinting at the recent security breach that led to leaked nude celebrity photos).
PayPal took out the ad on Monday, Sept. 15, in the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle and USA Today. The full page advert by PayPal covertly points to the lax security of Apple systems, suggesting that the new Apple Pay service's security may be questionable as well.
"We the people want our money safer than our selfies. PayPal protecting the people economy," reads the advertisement.
This, however, is not the first time PayPal is taking jabs at Apple. Recently, PayPal's Rob Skinner also took a dig at Apple's failed live stream at its Sept. 9 event, suggesting that the company's Apple Pay service would be tough to operate.
"Nobody can dispute Apple's strong track record, but payments is a difficult area. It's much more difficult to do payments than to keep a live stream working!" said Skinner.
Apple, on the other hand, is confident of Apple Pay's security as the system does not transmit a user's credit card details but instead deploys Touch ID and produces a unique 16-digit code for each transaction.
"Apple doesn't save your transaction information. With Apple Pay, your payments are private. Apple doesn't store the details of your transactions so they can't be tied back to you. Your most recent purchases are kept in Passbook for your convenience, but that's as far as it goes," notes Apple with regard to Apple Pay's privacy.
So why is PayPal attacking Apple you ask? Sour grapes perhaps. While PayPal is listed as a payment option for App Store and iTunes purchases, Apple has notably omitted the service (as well as subsidiary Braintree) as a recommended payment platform for Apple Pay. The exclusion has likely upset PayPal else if it was so concerned about Apple's security, why would the service be available as a payment option for iTunes.
PayPal it seems wants a piece of the lucrative Apple Pay pie as well and is resorting to such underhand tactics since negotiations with Apple fell through.
