Apple Pay will be available on mobile websites, and will also be fully launched in Russia by the end of this year.

According to information from several sources, Apple is now notifying potential partners that by the end of the year its payment service, allowing customers to make purchases in a mobile application using a fingerprint instead of entering credit card information, will also be available for websites . According to the same sources, it can be used in all iPhone and iPad models with TouchID support via the Safari browser. The company is also considering the emergence of Apple Pay on their laptops and personal computers. It is not clear whether the manufacturer plans to add the appropriate technical equipment.



Even more pleasant news is that Apple is in talks with Sberbank, Alfa-Bank, Raiffeisenbank, Binbank, Tinkoff Bank and VTB24 on the launch of a contactless payment service in Russia. This was reported by the newspaper "Izvestia", citing sources in the banking industry. As a result, Apple Pay may appear in Russia at the end of 2016, the source said. So far this is all that is known.



We at PayOnline , which organizes payments on sites and in mobile applications, consider these steps to be Apple’s not only logical, but also necessary, given that still few sellers are interested in supporting Apple Pay, in any case, not as much as expected in the corporation itself.



Issue 1: Mobile NFC payments market: key players, current situation and future prospects

Issue 2: The future of p2p payments: when the smartphone replaces cash

Issue 3: Apple's mobile payment system: practical use and development prospects

Issue 4: Apple Pay will be available on mobile websites, and will also be fully launched in Russia by the end of this year.

Issue 5: How does Apple Pay affect the payment industry?

Release 6: Starbucks Mobile Payment Success Secrets

Issue 7: This fall Apple Pay will be available in Russia, Japan and New Zealand

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In addition, competition with other market participants forces companies to look for new business lines. Earlier in our blog, we talked about key brands fighting for a place in the sun on the mobile NFC payment market, and also about the fact that Apple plans to increase the spread of its payment system by launching a new p2p payment service, and told about the corporation's development prospects . With this article, we continue the cycle of publications highlighting Apple's integration into the payment industry. Let us dwell on the news about the payment on the sites, as well as the opinions of leading analysts regarding the ability of Apple Pay to transform into a platform.



According to the available information, Apple promises to potential partners that the new functionality of the service for mobile websites will be ready even before the start of the holiday sales season (end of November - beginning of January). The official announcement may be heard at WWDC, Apple’s developer conference, which usually takes place in June. However, sources report that release time may change. Apple officials declined to comment.



This move by Apple will lead to increased competition with PayPal, which is a popular alternative payment method for a huge number of retail websites. PayPal offers One Touch, a mobile payment product for websites that is used by more than 250 of the 500 largest online retailers . However, Apple Pay iPhone users are more attractive due to the fast and simplified express payment scheme, and now the new service will be able to compete with PayPal for more online baskets.



Despite the fact that more than half of retail purchases are still made on personal and portable computers, the segment of mobile purchases passing through smartphones and tablets is growing rapidly. Apple Pay was originally positioned as an additional option for mobile applications on iOS. The advertising message the company turned to retailers and electronic stores was simple and straightforward: Apple Pay will help them convert more “mobile visitors” into purchases. Apple's fingerprint scan eliminates the need to enter billing information and delivery details, which is often a non-trivial task for owners of small-sized devices and forces buyers to abandon the purchase session without completing it.



Apple’s advertising speech for mobile websites was similar in content, with the only difference that their owners should have much greater marketing opportunities, according to information on current consumer habits available today. During last year's holiday sales season, retailers recorded about 9.8 billion visits to their mobile websites, while a similar indicator for mobile applications, according to comScore, amounted to 8.1 billion visits.



Be that as it may, there is an opinion that over time Apple Pay will turn into something more than just a quick payment method in stores and apps. This evolution, however, depends on how far Apple's ambitions go, says Daniel Bader, one of the authors of iMore.

A start

Apple Pay has existed for about a year and a half and has been operating in five countries: the USA, the UK, Canada, Australia and China, which has recently joined them. Like most mobile payment systems, the American corporation began its activity in the payment sphere with a modest proposal: to make credit card payments easier and safer by eliminating the need for physical use of the card for the payment transaction.



During the launch of the product in 2014, it became obvious that Apple made the right decision about partnership with banks, that is, companies that issue credit cards on behalf of the Visa and MasterCard payment networks. About 200 million Americans use credit cards, and it will take time to substantially change such a large and complex industry.



Instead of going its own way, separate from banks and merchants, Apple did what it does best: it made the right deals and made the right bets on various developing standards. She created Apple Pay with an eye on EMV technology and tokenization, hoping in this way to motivate vendors to upgrade their terminals so that the new devices support NFC-payment in one click, developed by the company. In addition, Apple focused on security: the EMV specification suggests replacing a magnetic strip of plastic cards with a small memory chip. It was proved that it is much more difficult to copy such a chip, and hacking it with the help of data interception (“ person-in-the-middle ” attack ) is almost impossible.



Tokenization develops a security topic, allowing the so-called PAN , a sequence of numbers, which we all know as a credit card number, to mix in a random order. At the same time, only the computational network processing the request knows the real sequence of numbers. But even if the attacker finds out the real sequence, this information will be useful for performing at best one or two operations. Once the token is no longer valid, access to funds is closed, protecting you from losing a credit card as a result of fraud.



Apple Pay also forces customers to use a second authentication factor: fingerprint. Thanks to a biometric reader, such as the Touch ID sensor on Apple devices, the settlement network receives additional confirmation that the payment is actually made by the credit card holder. The seller also receives an additional guarantee in terms of liability.

Market specifics

Mobile markets are not easy: the infrastructure of each individual country is shaped by government regulations and anti-fraud practices. In the US, Apple Pay was launched around the same time that Visa and MasterCard shifted responsibility for possible fraud while making purchases using a magnetic stripe to merchants.



This means that if the seller accepts a payment made on a stolen magnetic stripe card, he will be obliged to return the lost funds. Settlement networks like Visa and MasterCard consider EMV to be a more promising technology and since 2011 they have been promoting its distribution in various countries, including Canada, Australia, Great Britain, and Spain. Now they are confident in technology so that they are ready to take on the burden of financial responsibility for frauds committed in retail outlets.



Unfortunately, one of the poorest places in Apple Pay is the lack of interest from vendors. According to Apple's own calculations, the service allows you to pay for purchases in more than two million places in five countries around the world. Nevertheless, big brands like CVS and Walmart either refused to use the service or support a competitive solution, for example, CurrentC, which is inferior to Apple both in safety and in other criteria.



In Canada, as well as in the United Kingdom and Australia, things are very different. Most sellers either have already upgraded to NFC terminals, which allow them to hold a card near the terminal to make a payment without entering a PIN code or signing on a check. The amount of such a purchase is usually limited and ranges from 50 to 100 dollars.



The convenience of such a payment procedure has always been a stumbling block for distribution in countries with mature payment infrastructure. When you bring your iPhone or, even better, the Apple Watch to the terminal, it all looks very impressive, but most people actively avoid Apple Pay or periodically forget about it. It seems that for many people the emergence of the opportunity to pay for purchases through a mobile phone, even if there are additional security measures, is in itself not enough for them to start using it.

Apple Pay Evolution

When we talk about mobile payments, we usually mean the main function of a new type of service, which quickly becomes known as a digital wallet. As in the case of its physical counterpart, not all of its contents are supposed to be used for any payments. Most people also carry in their wallet rights, club and gift cards, photos, receipts and even cash. All this content is increasingly becoming the object of digitization and indexing by various startups. Apple Wallet, formerly known as the Passbook, did a good job with some functions even before Apple Pay was launched. Appearing in iOS 6 in 2012, Wallet helped store boarding passes, loyalty cards, and movie tickets, using various technologies, such as GPS coordinates and beacons, to give you the right time.



Today, loyalty programs and payments are loosely linked at Wallet. The local grocery store can accept Apple Pay, but the buyer’s iPhone at this store has no idea that the outlet has a loyalty program. Some loyalty programs are supported by the service, but closer integration and automation are key factors ensuring that people will use Apple Pay again and again. There is also an opinion that Apple should cooperate more closely with the sellers in order to give customers the opportunity not only to pay for purchases in the store, but also to use coupons and returns of part of the funds without the need to use third-party applications. Such functions will require serious study, but the combination of iBeacons, in-store Wi-Fi and space planning can make the shopping process much easier and more pleasant.



It is these functions, and not the connection to the service of new locations, that can actually help Apple Pay to turn from a simple transaction system into a full-fledged platform.



The article was prepared for publication by PayOnline, an international online payment system. If you need to arrange payment on the website or directly in the mobile application, feel free to contact us , our experts will help you with this.