Apple Pay might go live on Oct. 18, Saturday, according to a leaked internal memo from the management of Walgreens.
The memo, which was obtained by MacRumors, says Apple's new mobile payments system will launch on Oct. 18, just two days after the company's iPad event on Oct. 16, and details how Walgreens' employees will use Apple Pay or Near Field Communications "aka the upper portion of the pin pad" to process store payments made by customers on their iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus. According to the memo, customers will "only need to tap their iPhone 6 to the upper portion of the pin pad to pay for their purchase. It's that easy!"
"In preparation for the launch of Apple Pay on October 18, we would like you to cover the following material included in the tasks [before] activation," says the memo.
Apple has sent out invitations for an Oct. 16 media event at the Town Hall auditorium at the company's Infinite Loop headquarters. Reports are filled with stories of a new iPad Air with triple Retina display, a 5K resolution 27-inch iMac and, not surprisingly, the official debut of OS X Yosemite, which has been available in beta to developers for a while.
The rumor mill is also abuzz with news that Apple will be launching Apple Pay, which was announced during the launch of the iPhone 6 on Sept. 9, on the same day, which is a Thursday. It makes more sense for Apple Pay to be launched two days later, however, since Saturday is the perfect day for shoppers to try out their new shopping experience with Apple Pay.
Earlier this week, USAA assistant vice president Vikram Parekh announced that the financial services company will begin supporting Apple Pay on Nov. 7, which led many to speculate that the mobile payments system will launch on the same day. It is, however, possible that Apple will launch the service earlier, with support for banks and other retailers rolling in days later.
Walgreens and USAA are only two of 220,000 companies that have entered partnerships with Apple to support Apple Pay at their physical stores. Other high-profile retailers to accept Apple Pay payments include Bloomingdale's, Macy's, McDonald's, Sephora, Whole Foods, Toys R Us, and Staples. Apple Pay works with most major credit cards, including Visa, MasterCard and American Express.
Apple Pay will become available to iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus owners through an iOS 8.1 update, which was released to beta developers for testing last week.
