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I don't live in a tech hub city but in all my shopping I have never seen anyone use one of the Apple/Samsung payment methods where I live. Even when I spent mo

I don't live in a tech hub city but in all my shopping I have never seen anyone use one of the Apple/Samsung payment methods where I live. Even when I spent months in Silicon Valley I can count the number of times I saw it used on one hand.

runako 8y ago
Here in the Southeast of the US, the adoption of Apple Pay (and I presume Samsung Pay) has definitely been increasing. Square/Clover/all the POS's used by coffeeshops and other small businesses have been taking Apple Pay for a few years now. But recently CVS started taking it, and CVS is everywhere (~6,200 stores in the US). Whole Foods is on Apple Pay. I understand Target will be following soon. It's still not 100% penetration, but it definitely feels like the adoption expands every time a shop upgrades its POS.
- Cyph0n 8y ago
  > I understand Target will be following soon. Target has already deployed Apple Pay in NC at least. I only recently bought an iPhone, but I was pleasantly surprised by the number of merchants that accepted Apple Pay.
  - delfinom 8y ago
    Target has been resisting and dragging their feet because they really really really want people to use their store card instead.
    - novok 8y ago
      I would like to use their store card, with some sort of NFC payment system. It's not that hard.
      - larkost 8y ago
        It is not actually NFC, but if you use Target's App you can put your "Red Card" (target's in-house credit card) into your App and have a single scan for both their coupons system (Cartwheel) and payment at once.
  - chrisdhal 8y ago
    And just to clarify, this isn't just Apple Pay. Target has rolled out general NFC payments, so Google Pay works too (finally). https://corporate.target.com/article/2019/01/store-payment-options https://corporate.target.com/article/2019/01/store-payment-o...
- ryandrake 8y ago
  You don’t just need technology penetration. You also neeed consistently working devices that inspire confidence to customers that they’ll work. How often have you done this dance: 1. Notice the POS reader has an icon on it that vaguely indicates it supports some kind of NFC payment. 2. Pull out your phone and wave it around the reader. 3. No response from reader. Do I need to press something on my phone? 4. Still no response. The cashier and other customers in line are looking at you like you are wasting everyone’s time with your high tech crap. 5. Sheepishly put your phone in your pocket, pull out an actual card, and mutter something about “I guess it’s not working today...” to the cashier. Have this awkward experience enough times and you’ll just abandon NFC payments entirely. Stores should not be allowed to indicate that their systems support NFC if their reader doesn’t work.
  - ddoolin 8y ago
    Anecdotally, this has never happened to me. I briefly mention I'm paying with Apple Pay almost always and if it's not available/doesn't work, they will let you know.
  - novok 8y ago
    The retailer also has to press a button to enable the NFC payment type half the time too, it's not available at all stages of the transaction like in other countries.
  - illegalsmile 8y ago
    My favorite is when the staff doesn't even know if it works.
  - kevin_thibedeau 8y ago
    Not as stupid as Lowes allowing you to initiate a debit transaction with the chip and then forcing a swipe instead. Can't wait for them to get hacked.
mixmastamyk 8y ago
I use it at the grocery store every time. Other places with newer terminals have ~50% acceptance. Supposed to have increased privacy, why I try it first.
josefresco 8y ago
So I live 1.75 hours from a major city, not in a tech hub of any sorts, pretty typical sleepy Northeast town and use my Apple pay at the local Cumberland Farms, Stop & Shop and about a half dozen less regular shops. Once you start looking for it, you'd be surprised at how many places offer. I've never "seen" anyone else using it, but I'm in the position to "see" only a few minutes each week as I'm waiting in line.
- ValentineC 8y ago
  > Once you start looking for it, you'd be surprised at how many places offer. I've never "seen" anyone else using it, but I'm in the position to "see" only a few minutes each week as I'm waiting in line. Isn't this because Apple Pay is essentially built on top of the Visa/Mastercard/Amex contactless solutions?
  - josefresco 8y ago
    Yes, but only "newer" ones. So larger chains you see them, but mom and pops will take a bit longer. Depends on when they got their merchant account/hardware. My point was that it's more common than you think, and it's used outside of tech circles.
    - kevin_thibedeau 8y ago
      Contactless MasterCard was deployed sporadically in the US 15 years ago. Few stores had the readers and few banks issued the cards so it died due to lack of demand. It is questionable that Apple will carry enough influence to better that track record.
EugeneOZ 8y ago
Barcelona, Spain - all merchants already got used to Apple/Samsung mobile devices payments. Phones, bracelets, watches. I know just few stores where Apple Pay doesn't work.
simonbarker87 8y ago
We are pretty much at 100% here in the UK. I was in a little village deep in a national park over the weekend (North Wales) and used Apple Pay most of the time.
- djmobley 8y ago
  I would say contactless card payments in general are very popular in the UK, but seeing people use Apple Pay (much less Android Pay) is something of a novelty.
danpalmer 8y ago
Apple Pay (and Google Pay) penetration in the U.K. is nearly universal. We have had very good support for contactless payments for a long time, something that Apple/Google Pay will both fall back to if necessary. No one blocks them. Charges are capped in the EU, and low, so retailers are onboard. Add to that the fact that cash usage is declining fast and some places are going card only (London public transport being most notable), it’s everywhere.
Rebelgecko 8y ago
Samsung Pay works at most (all?) readers that let you swipe your card. The only tricky ones are gas pumps since they don't read the mag stripe until they detect that a card is physically inserted. With a bit of finesse you can fake this by putting your drivers license or a library card in the gas pump while holding your phone up to the reader.
wool_gather 8y ago
You might not be aware that the terminal doesn't have to be branded as Samsung/Apple to be usable. Keep an eye out for the "contactless payment" logo[0]; that's generally the indicator you need. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contactless_payment#/media/File:Universal_Contactless_Card_Symbol.svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contactless_payment#/media/Fil...
desas 8y ago
In the UK basically every shop that allows paying with card allows contactless payment and also apple and Android pay. I can't remember the last time I used my actual physical card. It's really commonplace.

runako 8y ago

Here in the Southeast of the US, the adoption of Apple Pay (and I presume Samsung Pay) has definitely been increasing. Square/Clover/all the POS's used by coffeeshops and other small businesses have been taking Apple Pay for a few years now. But recently CVS started taking it, and CVS is everywhere (~6,200 stores in the US). Whole Foods is on Apple Pay. I understand Target will be following soon. It's still not 100% penetration, but it definitely feels like the adoption expands every time a shop upgrades its POS.

Cyph0n 8y ago
> I understand Target will be following soon. Target has already deployed Apple Pay in NC at least. I only recently bought an iPhone, but I was pleasantly surprised by the number of merchants that accepted Apple Pay.
- delfinom 8y ago
  Target has been resisting and dragging their feet because they really really really want people to use their store card instead.
  - novok 8y ago
    I would like to use their store card, with some sort of NFC payment system. It's not that hard.
    - larkost 8y ago
      It is not actually NFC, but if you use Target's App you can put your "Red Card" (target's in-house credit card) into your App and have a single scan for both their coupons system (Cartwheel) and payment at once.
- chrisdhal 8y ago
  And just to clarify, this isn't just Apple Pay. Target has rolled out general NFC payments, so Google Pay works too (finally). https://corporate.target.com/article/2019/01/store-payment-options https://corporate.target.com/article/2019/01/store-payment-o...
ryandrake 8y ago
You don’t just need technology penetration. You also neeed consistently working devices that inspire confidence to customers that they’ll work. How often have you done this dance: 1. Notice the POS reader has an icon on it that vaguely indicates it supports some kind of NFC payment. 2. Pull out your phone and wave it around the reader. 3. No response from reader. Do I need to press something on my phone? 4. Still no response. The cashier and other customers in line are looking at you like you are wasting everyone’s time with your high tech crap. 5. Sheepishly put your phone in your pocket, pull out an actual card, and mutter something about “I guess it’s not working today...” to the cashier. Have this awkward experience enough times and you’ll just abandon NFC payments entirely. Stores should not be allowed to indicate that their systems support NFC if their reader doesn’t work.
- ddoolin 8y ago
  Anecdotally, this has never happened to me. I briefly mention I'm paying with Apple Pay almost always and if it's not available/doesn't work, they will let you know.
- novok 8y ago
  The retailer also has to press a button to enable the NFC payment type half the time too, it's not available at all stages of the transaction like in other countries.
- illegalsmile 8y ago
  My favorite is when the staff doesn't even know if it works.
- kevin_thibedeau 8y ago
  Not as stupid as Lowes allowing you to initiate a debit transaction with the chip and then forcing a swipe instead. Can't wait for them to get hacked.

mixmastamyk 8y ago

I use it at the grocery store every time. Other places with newer terminals have ~50% acceptance. Supposed to have increased privacy, why I try it first.

josefresco 8y ago

So I live 1.75 hours from a major city, not in a tech hub of any sorts, pretty typical sleepy Northeast town and use my Apple pay at the local Cumberland Farms, Stop & Shop and about a half dozen less regular shops. Once you start looking for it, you'd be surprised at how many places offer. I've never "seen" anyone else using it, but I'm in the position to "see" only a few minutes each week as I'm waiting in line.

ValentineC 8y ago
> Once you start looking for it, you'd be surprised at how many places offer. I've never "seen" anyone else using it, but I'm in the position to "see" only a few minutes each week as I'm waiting in line. Isn't this because Apple Pay is essentially built on top of the Visa/Mastercard/Amex contactless solutions?
- josefresco 8y ago
  Yes, but only "newer" ones. So larger chains you see them, but mom and pops will take a bit longer. Depends on when they got their merchant account/hardware. My point was that it's more common than you think, and it's used outside of tech circles.
  - kevin_thibedeau 8y ago
    Contactless MasterCard was deployed sporadically in the US 15 years ago. Few stores had the readers and few banks issued the cards so it died due to lack of demand. It is questionable that Apple will carry enough influence to better that track record.

EugeneOZ 8y ago

Barcelona, Spain - all merchants already got used to Apple/Samsung mobile devices payments. Phones, bracelets, watches. I know just few stores where Apple Pay doesn't work.

simonbarker87 8y ago

We are pretty much at 100% here in the UK. I was in a little village deep in a national park over the weekend (North Wales) and used Apple Pay most of the time.

djmobley 8y ago
I would say contactless card payments in general are very popular in the UK, but seeing people use Apple Pay (much less Android Pay) is something of a novelty.

danpalmer 8y ago

Apple Pay (and Google Pay) penetration in the U.K. is nearly universal. We have had very good support for contactless payments for a long time, something that Apple/Google Pay will both fall back to if necessary. No one blocks them. Charges are capped in the EU, and low, so retailers are onboard. Add to that the fact that cash usage is declining fast and some places are going card only (London public transport being most notable), it’s everywhere.

Rebelgecko 8y ago

Samsung Pay works at most (all?) readers that let you swipe your card. The only tricky ones are gas pumps since they don't read the mag stripe until they detect that a card is physically inserted. With a bit of finesse you can fake this by putting your drivers license or a library card in the gas pump while holding your phone up to the reader.

wool_gather 8y ago

You might not be aware that the terminal doesn't have to be branded as Samsung/Apple to be usable. Keep an eye out for the "contactless payment" logo[0]; that's generally the indicator you need. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contactless_payment#/media/File:Universal_Contactless_Card_Symbol.svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contactless_payment#/media/Fil...

desas 8y ago

In the UK basically every shop that allows paying with card allows contactless payment and also apple and Android pay. I can't remember the last time I used my actual physical card. It's really commonplace.