There is a good possibility that in the near future, consumers can use their iTunes account to pay for the white top bought from their favorite shop or perhaps for a car rental. With more than 530 million iPhones and iPads in the hands of consumers and hundreds of millions of credit card accounts on file, Apple is in a good position to explore mobile payment systems and allow its customers to pay for physical goods and other services.
Individuals familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal that Apple is starting to build from its foundation and has begun putting up scaffolding to make mobile payment work for the company.
"Eddy Cue, Apple's iTunes and App Store chief and a key lieutenant of Chief Executive Tim Cook, has met with industry executives to discuss Apple's interest in handling payments for physical goods and services on its devices, according to people familiar with the situation," the WSJ reported. "In another sign of the company's interest, Apple moved Jennifer Bailey, a longtime executive who was running its online stores, into a new role to build a payment business within the technology giant, three people with knowledge of the move said."
At the moment, Apple accepts payments through its iTunes store and in store, customers can pay for items using the credit card linked to their iTunes account. With the iPhone 5s having a fingerprint scanner its functionality can be expanded to include purchases from brick and mortar stores. Experts also suggest that credit card files can be used to convert the handset into a digital credit card.
With Apple experimenting with iBeacon to help customers navigate its stores and present interesting offers, the low energy Bluetooth of this system can also serve as a bridge to build a touchless payment system.
If the alleged plan of Apple pushes through, it will be in a head-on collision with the likes of PayPal and Google. The search engine company has been toying with the touchless payment technology that will utilize Google Wallet and NFC technology. There are also young companies vying for position in the mobile payment niche such as Isis, Stripe Inc., and Square Inc.
Forrester Research forecasts a bright future for mobile payments in the United States. "Mobile payments have captured the attention and imagination of industry insiders, venture capital investors, and innovators. Although retailer investment and consumer adoption have been nascent to date, we see that changing. Forrester forecasts that US mobile payments will reach $90B in 2017, a 48% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from the $12.8B spent in 2012," the company disclosed on its blog.
Apple has not commented on the matter.
