Apple is planning to launch a new service that will allow small businesses to accept payments directly on iPhones without any additional hardware, according to people familiar with the matter.
The company has been working on the new feature since around 2020, when it paid about $100 million for a Canadian startup called Mobeewave that developed smartphone technology that could accept payments via credit cards. The system will likely use the iPhone’s near-field communication or NFC chip currently used for Apple Pay.
In order to accept payments on today’s iPhones, merchants need to use payment terminals that plug into or communicate with the phone via Bluetooth. An upcoming feature will turn the iPhone into a payment terminal, allowing users like food trucks and hair stylists to accept payments simply by tapping a credit card or another iPhone on the back of the device.
The move could affect payment providers that rely on Apple’s iPhone to boost sales, such as market-dominant Block Inc.’s Square. If Apple allows any app to use the new technology, Square could continue to accept payments through Apple devices without having to worry about supplying its own hardware. If Apple requires merchants to use Apple Pay or its own payment processing system, that could compete directly with Square. A representative for Block did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Shares of Block were down less than 1% in premarket trading in New York on Thursday; Apple was up less than 1%.
It’s unclear if the payment acceptance option will be marked as part of Apple Pay, although the team working on the feature has been working on Apple’s payments division since the Mobeewave acquisition, the people said. It’s also unknown if Apple intends to partner with existing payment networks to use the feature or launch it separately.
Apple could roll out the feature via a software update in the coming months, the people said. The company expects to release the first beta version of iOS 15.4 in the near future, with the final version available to consumers as early as spring. An Apple spokesman declined to comment.
That would bring the debut closer to some other announcements; according to Bloomberg, Apple plans to launch a 5G-enabled iPhone SE and iPad Air as early as March or April, in addition to a new Mac running Apple’s custom processor.
Complete News Source : Bloomberg
