Apple reportedly in talks with Nordstrom over mobile payment partnership
Adding to the din of rumors regarding an Apple-branded mobile payments solution, a report on Tuesday claims the Cupertino company is discussing a platform launch partnership with department store giant Nordstrom.
Citing people familiar with the matter, Bank Innovation reports Apple and Nordstrom are mulling a partnership supposedly related to an upcoming mobile-based payments system, which some industry insiders expect to roll out with the next-generation iPhone.
Of note, Nordstrom employees said the company upgraded its current iPod touch-based mobile point-of-sale hardware "a few weeks ago" with new features that support the "most recent iPhone" models. While the details are vague, the publication reportedly verified Nordstrom's new POS terminals as identical to EasyPay units used by the Apple Store.
Sources also claim Apple landed on Nordstrom after seeking out a launch partner with an established high-end brand and wide brick-and-mortar reach. The theory makes sense considering a new payments platform would need broad consumer adoption, which translates to wide availability and support, for any chance at success.
Nordstrom is just the latest company rumored to be in talks with Apple, as reports over the weekend claimed credit card firms American Express, Visa and Mastercard have all inked deals for the mobile platform.
Apple is expected to announce the next-generation "iPhone 6" lineup at a special event slated for Sept. 9. Unverified rumors and supposed parts leaks suggest the new handset will come with a near-field communications (NFC) module to facilitate touchless payments at compatible POS terminals.
Citing people familiar with the matter, Bank Innovation reports Apple and Nordstrom are mulling a partnership supposedly related to an upcoming mobile-based payments system, which some industry insiders expect to roll out with the next-generation iPhone.
Of note, Nordstrom employees said the company upgraded its current iPod touch-based mobile point-of-sale hardware "a few weeks ago" with new features that support the "most recent iPhone" models. While the details are vague, the publication reportedly verified Nordstrom's new POS terminals as identical to EasyPay units used by the Apple Store.
Sources also claim Apple landed on Nordstrom after seeking out a launch partner with an established high-end brand and wide brick-and-mortar reach. The theory makes sense considering a new payments platform would need broad consumer adoption, which translates to wide availability and support, for any chance at success.
Nordstrom is just the latest company rumored to be in talks with Apple, as reports over the weekend claimed credit card firms American Express, Visa and Mastercard have all inked deals for the mobile platform.
Apple is expected to announce the next-generation "iPhone 6" lineup at a special event slated for Sept. 9. Unverified rumors and supposed parts leaks suggest the new handset will come with a near-field communications (NFC) module to facilitate touchless payments at compatible POS terminals.
Comments
I guess now every single retail outlet going to be posted as a separate headline here in AI...
All of the big chains will now fall in line. Expect Target, Walmart, McDonald's, etc., etc., etc.
Apple said they would launch a mobile payments system if they had 1 billion iTunes accounts. I think they made that statement in January.
Do you have a link for that?
so now the rumours, on the apple rumour site, are unpleasant? or do you just not know what the word "din" actually means?
Unfortunately I don't. It was reported during a live blog of Apple's earnings call in January. I don't pay much attention to how many units sold or income statement data or forward guidance, for example, during these calls. However, I do mostly focus on receiving information that are iTunes or music-related.
That's why I think you may have misheard something. Historically, they rarely announce future plans.
so now the rumours, on the apple rumour site, are unpleasant? or do you just not know what the word "din" actually means?
These rumors are added to Gunga's din.
Wrong. Yahoo! made that claim.
Do you have a link for that?
Yep. Here’s Yahoo!’s claim and here’s the text of the earnings call where no one said that. When it tells you to sign up to read the rest of the pages, just append the new page number to the URL and read around the box (or disable the <div> with the Inspector, but you can read around it just fine).
Doubt it. I read it in the live blog's reporting unless the blogger misrepresented what was said.
I read the entire transcript and the Q&A and there are no comments or answers that fit what you're describing.
Can you point it out?
http://www.morningstar.com/earnings/earnings-call-transcript.aspx?t=AAPL&pindex=8&qindex=1
1) iBeacon is BT so it can''t travel over NFC's magnetic loop.
2) If you aren't going to pull it out of your pocket then are you going to sit up on the counter so your iPhone can get close enough to the NFC sensor to create the secure loop?
3) If you're going to slide your hand in your pocket to initialize Touch ID to allow the purchase to be made then just take the damn thing out of your pocket.
Wrong. Yahoo! made that claim.
Yep. Here’s Yahoo!’s claim and here’s the text of the earnings call where no one said that. When it tells you to sign up to read the rest of the pages, just append the new page number to the URL and read around the box (or disable the <div> with the Inspector, but you can read around it just fine).
First of all, you said January. This story is from April. Second, they are speculating about something that Tim never explicitly said. In other words, they don't know and they are making things up.
1) It's not just a nod that can be interpreted a certain way, like Cook saying they are watching the wearables market, but a specific statement that includes hard numbers. I don't see that happening.
2) I don't know why 1 billion iTunes accounts would matter to mobile payments. It's not like 900,000 isn't enough to warrant a solution and any solution will only be released once it's ready.
sounds like you have some good criteria for a search of the interwebs.
this is what i quickly found: http://www.macrumors.com/2014/01/27/apple-earnings-q1-2014/
"Nothing specific to announce today but you can tell by looking at the demographics of our customers and the amount of commerce that goes through iOS devices versus the competition, there is a big opportunity on the platform. "
let us know what you find.
First of all, you said January. This story is from April. Second, they are speculating about something that Tim never explicitly said. In other words, they don't know and they are making things up.
Isn’t that what I said?
Isn’t that what I said?
Sorry. I thought I was replying to YvesVilleneuve.
I need to straighten my eyeballs. I apologize.
It must be something in the water.
From a marketing perspective, launching a mobile payment system at 1 billion iTunes accounts is better than launching at 900 million accounts.