USA Technologies (USAT) is the supplier of the Near Field Communication (NFC) technology that allows us to accept Google Wallet and Apple Pay as forms of payment in our cell phone charging kiosks. (More info on that here.) Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, Inc., mentions USAT’s nationwide rollout of 200,000 acceptance points for Apple Pay on their Q1 2015 Earnings Conference Call, and declares this “The Year of Apple Pay.”
Apple Pay is huge. “The sky is definitely not the limit when it comes to mobile payments with Apple Pay,” says Marty St. George, a senior vice president at JetBlue. JetBlue is set to become the first airline to accept Apple Pay during flights for snacks, drinks, and other amenities once the plane reaches cruising altitude. The USA Today article is fascinating and mentions USAT, our NFC technology supplier, in its description of the heights Apple Pay is headed for.
Taking Apple Pay to the skies is important to Apple as it tries to expand the ecosystem for mobile payments beyond such merchants at McDonald’s and Walgreens. USA Technologies recently announced that it was making Apple Pay available at about 200,000 self-service locations: commercial laundry machines, parking kiosks, as well as vending machines in businesses, schools and yes, airports. “Most people would prefer not to carry cash or worry about cash. There’s a lot of opportunity there,” says Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president for Internet software and services.
Check out this short video from the article of USA Today’s Ed Baig talking to JetBlue’s Rachel McCarthy about JetBlue’s new in-flight integration of Apple Pay.
Here at NV3, we are thrilled to have the opportunity to offer NFC technology to our customers, and excited to see where mobile payment methods like Apple Pay take the world in the future.
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