Entering the age of Apple Pay 10/29/14
Today I took a bold step into the future and purchased fizzy water at Duane Reade1 with Apple Pay.
I was skeptical that Apple Pay would be more convenient than using a credit card2. Even though I specifically told the cashier I wanted to use Apple Pay, it was still faster. Here’s what the process looks like in practice:
Currently, Apple Pay is available on all iPhone 6 models running iOS 8.1 or later. After linking your phone with your credit card, you can use Apple Pay at stores with NFC payment terminals like McDonalds, Office Depot, Subway, and Walgreens. Beware, some retailers have disabled their perfectly capable NFC terminals in an effort to stop the adoption of Apple Pay3.
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Duane Reade is a chain of NYC drug stores owned by Walgreens. ↩
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Using a credit card is nowhere near as painful as Apple tried to make it seem in their Apple Pay promotional video. ↩
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Best Buy, CVS, Rite Aid, Walmart, etc. are developing an alternative system called CurrentC. It bypasses credit cards entirely and pulls money directly from your bank account. I’m sympathetic to their goal of avoiding credit card transaction fees, but their solution just sounds terrible for consumers. ↩