TECHNOLOGY
AUSTRALIA IS ONE of the few places in the world that has taken to using NFC payment options in force . Many people are used to taking out their bank card and tapping it against the sensor at the cash register . But what if you didn ’ t even need the card ?
Enter Apple Pay . If you ’ ve decided to come out of your hermitage recently and haven ’ t heard of Apple Pay , it ’ s a really big US tech company ’ s response to getting rid of your wallet . If you ’ ve got an iPhone 5 , 6 or 6 Plus — and who knows , there may be several other iterations by the time this magazine article goes live — Apple Pay will be coming to you shortly .
Apple Pay was launched in the US in October of last year and already has 60 in-country banking institutions signed up to allow their customers use of the service . Major credit card companies Visa and MasterCard went on the record with their support of Apple Pay with Charlie Scharf , Visa CEO , and Ajay Banga , MasterCard CEO , excited about what Apple is doing . And as the Apple Watch comes into the fray in April of this year , Apple Pay will become even easier to use .
Although Apple Pay doesn ’ t have a launch date for Australia yet — sources
There ’ s a chance that PayPal could lo
working with Gizmodo Australia say that it may be as early as this month — businesses that could benefit from Apple Pay should start working towards it now .
Here ’ s How It Works Passbook , an Apple-developed app , stores your credit card information on your phone or mobile device like your iPad or future Apple Watch . The Touch ID function — your fingerprint scanner
8 March 2015