What Does Apple Pay Mean for Small Businesses?

by Kate Gruenke

There is no shortage of information on the internet about Apple Pay and what it means, how it will work, whether it will fail, and lots more. But now that Apple Pay is launched, what does it really mean to the majority of merchants in the US?

Here is a summary of some of the details of the program from Clearent, one of the industry’s leading processing platforms.

Apple Pay will undoubtedly boost the US market’s adoption of near-field communication (NFC) or “tap and go” payment technology. This technology is more than 10 years old and had previously lost much of its broader momentum. I remember thinking, “This is really cool technology. It’s too bad nobody will use it any time soon.”

But Apple has a knack of changing how people behave with technology, almost forcing people to try using new features and technology. Apple Pay and device-based NFC payments will be the next paradigm shift in US payment behavior. Other countries, continents, and populations in the world have already pioneered and adopted similar technology in their lives; like the UK, Spain, Asia, and Scandinavia.

With the EMV push coming from card issuers in October, 2015, Apple Pay and other smart card transactions will continue to improve and push innovative customer experiences. It has been a long time coming and we are excited to see what comes next.