Apple wants to use iPhone as a payment terminal

Payment service Apple Pay is very popular all over the world, and one of the leaders in its distribution among users is Russia. Paying for goods and services without a physical bank card has proven incredibly convenient, so the number of transactions made using Apple Pay is growing rapidly. Apple is more than anyone else interested in the development of its service, as it receives a certain percentage of each payment. And, it seems, is not going to be limited only to user payments: in Cupertino they also want to process these purchases, making the iPhone a payment terminal.

Will you no longer need a bank transfer?

Is it even possible? And how, after all, this is exactly what the startup Mobeewave from Canada was doing until recently. Its technology allows merchants to use their own smartphone to process the payment. The system works with an app and requires no additional hardware other than the Near Field Communications or NFC chip, which has been in the iPhone since 2014.

Apple could not pass by such technology, and recently it became known that the Californian tech giant has taken over Mobeewave, the deal was worth about $ 100 million. The startup had dozens of employees, and Apple has retained the entire team that continues to operate from Montreal, the source said. Cupertino has traditionally commented on these rumors:

Apple buys small tech companies from time to time, and we usually don't discuss our goals or plans.

IPhone Payment Features

Apple usually buys startups in order to integrate their technologies into their devices. Apple added Apple Pay to the iPhone in 2014 after making several related acquisitions. As a result, users can pay for goods and services with one touch using their iPhone or Apple Watch in retail stores. The company launched its own Apple Card last year. And the introduction of Mobeewave technology will allow anyone with an iPhone to accept payments without additional equipment.

This will make Apple a major competitor to Square Inc., a leading provider of hardware and software for processing payments on smartphones and tablets.

Square's solution requires an additional device. In Apple technology, everything will work using NFC

Obviously, this is a very good deal for Apple. If such technology appears in the iPhone, the company will "recoup" the $ 100 million in fees alone for using the smartphone as a payment terminal. Nowadays, many people use mobile terminals tied to a certain bank, which receives a percentage of each transaction. Apple, of course, will not provide its services for free either, but it could make the commission more affordable. Most likely, the feature will first appear only in the US, like the Apple Card, and then in other countries. If only local banks want to cooperate.

Apple mergers and acquisitions

Interestingly, Samsung entered into a partnership with Mobeewave last year. The corporation also wanted a payment processing feature on its smartphones. Samsung's venture capital arm is also an investor in the startup, which raised over $ 20 million. Will all agreements be canceled after the takeover of Apple?

The new deal was one of several for Apple this year. The corporation recently bought the weather app Dark Sky and the virtual reality company NextVR. Other recent Apple acquisitions include startups Voysis, Xnor.ai and Inductiv to improve Siri and artificial intelligence, and Fleetsmith to manage corporate devices.