Every spring, Apple invites developers to its World Wide Developers Conference in San Francisco, where they can witness the iPhone company's latest software improvements and updates. Central to this year's conference was a motif we also saw on display at Google's I/O event earlier this year: the expansion of mobile payments. This comes as little surprise, as "mobile" seems to be implied in just about everything consumers do today. Reflecting this shift, the Cupertino, Calif. company unveiled two major updates that will change the way iPhone users make payments. 

"Pay with Apple Pay"
For the first two years of its existence, Apple Pay has been used primarily for consumers checking out in a store equipped with an NFC-enabled terminal. As the mobile wallet became more popular, it eventually added in-app support, allowing iPhone owners to pay for purchases made in certain apps with just a fingerprint scan. Now, Apple has announced its payment system will be making the leap to a far more universal platform: Safari. The newly announced "Pay with Apple Pay" feature provided developers with a payment API they can add directly to the checkout environment on their e-commerce site. As long as a customer is doing their shopping on Apple's web browser, he or she would see the option to pay with their mobile wallet, verifying the purchase with TouchID or a tap of their Apple Watch. 

iMessage payments
In the weeks leading up to the event, rumors swirled that Apple would also add a peer-to-peer component to its mobile wallet. While it did not unveil such an upgrade to Apple Pay this time around, the iPhone company opened up another interesting avenue consumers could use to send cash to their friends. Taking advantage of iMessage's new "App Drawer," texters will be able to open scaled-down versions of certain apps without leaving their messaging app. With this functionality, users could send and receive payments via third-party providers with just a few taps. While it is far from the revolutionary peer-to-peer system many hoped for, this option represents once again how the mobile movement has made making payments easier than ever. 

At Vantage, we're experienced in helping merchants determine which payment processing solutions are right for their business models. Contact us today to learn more about in app payment solutions, ask a question or schedule a consultation.