Apple to simplify contactless payments

Apple is said to be working on a technology that will allow small businesses to accept contactless payments more easily. According to Bloomberg, Apple will soon release a feature that would allow small businesses to accept payments directly on their iPhones. It will no longer be necessary to employ external hardware.

According to the quoted source, Apple may deploy this functionality in the next months. The corporation first began working on this in 2020, when it paid $100 million for a Canadian startup called Mobeewave.

Previously, in 2019, Samsung collaborated with this company to provide a similar service to merchants. Samsung POS (Samsung Point of Sale) was launched in collaboration with Mobeewave, making it easier for small companies to take contactless payments using Samsung phones. Merchants could therefore use their NFC-enabled Samsung cellphones as mPOS (Mobile Point of Sale) terminals without the need for any additional hardware.

They only need to register as a merchant after downloading the Samsung POS app from the Galaxy Store or Play Store. Merchants and small business owners can begin accepting contactless payments using Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, or contactless Visa and Mastercard cards after completing the registration process. Apple is also anticipated to take similar steps.

The tap-to-pay terminal technology is planned to be integrated directly into Apple's NFC-enabled iPhones. Small company owners must currently rely on additional hardware from financial services businesses such as Square, which provides a variety of payment terminals for iPhones.

It's unclear when this functionality will be available, or whether Mobeewave's technology would be marketed as part of the Apple Pay service. It's also unclear whether the Cupertino behemoth would use its own payment network or partner with an existing one for the feature. Apple "may begin pushing out the feature via a software update" in the coming months, according to the source.