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I agree that you can't assume the app will be terrible. I found this explanation Gruber's article (http://daringfireball.net/2014/10/nfc_apple_pay http://daring

I agree that you can't assume the app will be terrible. I found this explanation Gruber's article (http://daringfireball.net/2014/10/nfc_apple_pay http://daringfireball.net/2014/10/nfc_apple_pay) about CurrentC... The application can be downloaded for free from the App Store and Google Play Store. Available for both iOS and Android devices, it is designed to ‘simplify and expedite the customer checkout process by applying qualifying offers and coupons, participating merchant rewards, loyalty programs and membership accounts, and offering payment options through the consumer’s selected financial account, all with a single scan.” 1.) Using CurrentC mobile payments the point-of-sale displays a QR code for the customer to read with their phone. 2.) The QR code generates the payment token on the smartphone which verifies the shopper’s presence, identity and initiates the transaction between the merchant and the bank. 3.) The phone connects with the cloud for authorization and sends the approval to the merchant. CurrentC doesn’t support the contactless Near Field Communications (NFC) used by Apple Pay. That's a lot of steps. Maybe they'll get it right.

deleted 12y ago
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- otterley 12y ago
  That's because Starbucks is giving customers additional value (free drinks, etc.) for using their app instead of a bare credit card. This is the "carrot" form of incentive, as opposed to the "stick" that the other retailers are resorting to. Give customers enough incentive and they'll inconvenience themselves a bit.
  - MBCook 12y ago
    Technically there is a carrot here as well as the alternate system includes loyalty cards and coupons. But I'd rather have my privacy, they want to track what you're buying. The fact there are multiple retailers makes me think they'll want to pool data across chains too. I've stopped using most loyalty cards because the rewards are terrible. "You picked up a prescription, save $0.15 on Coke this week". "Why would I buy Coke from you at a $3 markup if you offer a $0.15 discount? The grocery store is 20 feet away." Or offering me CHAIN Bucks, which require some weird convoluted procedure to redeem instead of just giving me a straight discount.
comex 12y ago
Note that it's currently impossible for third party apps to support NFC on iOS. Could change, of course.
- MBCook 12y ago
  Doesn't matter if it changes. They disabled the NFC readers and wouldn't be able to re-enable them without re-enabling Apple Pay since it's based on the industry standard NFC technology.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

otterley 12y ago
That's because Starbucks is giving customers additional value (free drinks, etc.) for using their app instead of a bare credit card. This is the "carrot" form of incentive, as opposed to the "stick" that the other retailers are resorting to. Give customers enough incentive and they'll inconvenience themselves a bit.
- MBCook 12y ago
  Technically there is a carrot here as well as the alternate system includes loyalty cards and coupons. But I'd rather have my privacy, they want to track what you're buying. The fact there are multiple retailers makes me think they'll want to pool data across chains too. I've stopped using most loyalty cards because the rewards are terrible. "You picked up a prescription, save $0.15 on Coke this week". "Why would I buy Coke from you at a $3 markup if you offer a $0.15 discount? The grocery store is 20 feet away." Or offering me CHAIN Bucks, which require some weird convoluted procedure to redeem instead of just giving me a straight discount.

comex 12y ago

Note that it's currently impossible for third party apps to support NFC on iOS. Could change, of course.

MBCook 12y ago
Doesn't matter if it changes. They disabled the NFC readers and wouldn't be able to re-enable them without re-enabling Apple Pay since it's based on the industry standard NFC technology.