[mindgam3]

This is Apple sensing weakness and dropping a bomb right on facebook’s doorstep. And they sidestep the anticompetitive angle by arguing that instant anonymous sign on is simply a better UX, which it is.

Someone at Apple deserves a raise.

[notSupplied]

It is an incredibly bold move. Just as tech monopoly power comes under scrutiny--in Apple's case the AppStore--they wield said monopoly power...but for a seemingly good cause.

Quite the gambit.

[canes123456]

Lol, I doubt it. Apple is years late and sucks at doing the leg work of getting third parties to adopt its suck. Look at Apple Pay which was launched at the perfect time.

[macintux]

Apple Pay, the market leader?

https://www.similartech.com/compare/apple-pay-vs-google-pay

[canes123456]

Great 1% of online stores supports it. I am sure only a fraction of that traffic actually uses apple pay. You are comparing it to google pay that had a terrible UX and like four conflicting versions. They had to catch up to apple pay once it launched. Apple had the perfect product at the perfect time. They complete wasted the US chip switchover. They could have dominated retail purchases.

[consp]

Interesting site since neither Apply pay or Google pay is available in lots of the countries on that map.

(Data is mostly correct though)

[fastball]

Always fun to see a comment that doesn't age well the moment it's posted.

[kilo_bravo_3]

Practically any point-of-sale that supports NFC also supports Apple Pay. Adoption rates may vary by region but NFC penetration is very good where I live.

I have switched almost exclusively to Apple Pay, and frequent only one chain of gas station because they rolled out NFC at all of their pumps last year. After the introduction of chip readers gas pump mag stripe readers became the main vector for card skimming in my area and even with the security stickers all of the gas stations have been putting on their pumps I don't trust any mag reader anymore.

At locations that don't have an Apple Pay logo on their card readers, like my local movie theater, I have spied the NFC logo and given it a try and it works.

Except for Amazon, almost all of my online shopping is now done through Apple Pay. I have a shirt out for delivery today from a small retailer I had never heard of before that I purchased with one click and a fingerprint via Apple Pay.

It has not only changed how I buy things, but how I dress. Instead of my George Costanza wallet I only carry an ID and two cards in a slim front pocket wallet, relying on Apple Pay for almost everything and walking out of a store if they are cash-only or don't support chip/NFC.

Regardless of your chosen NFC platform, I recommend that everyone use it and shun points of sale that don't have it.

[dzhiurgis]

I think he meant Apple Pay on the web.

Personally I used it only once (although I am not in US market)

[oarsinsync]

Apple Pay has been my primary payment method since the day it launched in the UK.

Fortunately, most payment terminals in London already supported NFC payments thanks to NFC debit and credit cards long being prevalent here, and Apple Pay is just tokenised NFC payments.

Same is true of literally every iPhone owner I know, and usage simply increased as payment limits went from £20 to £30 to unlimited (unlimited on Apple Pay, but still limited to £30 on NFC cards or when using older payment terminals).

Plus I got to ditch my oyster card and just use weekly fare capping after a while too. Good times.

[jnaina]

I use Apple Pay for almost all my purchases in Singapore, where almost ~80% of merchant terminals support it. Recently, Singapore's train system started allowing Apple Pay payments at the turnstiles. Using the Apple Watch at the turnstiles without having to fumble for the stored value card is amazing.