What Apple Pay Means for Retailers

Ralf Gladis, CEO of payment services provider Computop, however, was expecting a more innovative solution from Apple.

"To be honest, I expected a more innovative mobile payment system, simply because Apple has a track record of doing innovation better than anyone else," Gladis said in an email sent to ROI. "On the other hand, Apple has a global reach and it’s a clever move to join a global standard like NFC and take sides with global card organizations like Visa, MasterCard and American Express. Otherwise, it would be an endless fight to convince and connect merchants to Apple Pay."

Gladis added that by using NFC, "Apple will be compatible with millions of POS terminals worldwide, giving its users the positive customer experience they need to be able to use their iPhones and Apple Watch everywhere they go. Not every POS terminal is NFC compatible, yet, but many already are, and NFC will be mandatory for new POS terminals for instance in Europe, soon."

Henry Helgeson, CEO of payment processing solutions provider Merchant Warehouse, said in a statement that the Apple Pay news brings the concept of mobile wallets to the forefront, which is a good thing. However, Helgeson warned that focusing just on the NFC technology Apple has invested in may not be wise.

“With the launch of Apple Pay, businesses everywhere will begin asking if now is the time to invest in upgrading to a payment system that accepts NFC," he said. "Merchant Warehouse certainly thinks this is a good question to ask, but we encourage businesses not to stop there. When considering a payment technology that focuses on the future of payments, we suggest keeping options open. Only invest in hardware that's flexible to adapt with the future of payments — whether that’s NFC, beacons, EMV or other technologies.”