By Sam Boughedda
Investing.com — Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) announced Tuesday that it will launch Tap to Pay on iPhone in the US later this year. The tech giant said the feature will allow merchants to use their iPhone as a contactless payment terminal to accept Apple Pay, contactless credit and debit cards, and other digital wallets through a tap to their iPhone.
There is no additional hardware or payment terminal needed for the feature which uses NFC technology. It will be available on iPhone XS or later devices, with payment platforms and app developers able to integrate into their iOS apps and offer it as a payment option to their business customers.
The company highlighted that Apple Pay is already accepted by more than 90 percent of US retailers. They also confirmed Stripe will be the first payment platform to offer Tap to Pay to their business customers, including the Shopify Point of Sale app this spring.
"As more and more consumers are tapping to pay with digital wallets and credit cards, Tap to Pay on iPhone will provide businesses with a secure, private, and easy way to accept contactless payments," stated Jennifer Bailey, vice president of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet.
There had been worries that the feature could compete with Square's Point of Sale app. However, as mentioned by Barclays analyst Ramsey El-Assad, the press release suggests the new payment feature "may not be a competitive threat" to the Square app and may in fact be an additive. El-Assad added that it should "put to rest investor fears" that Apple will roll out a competing payments solution.
Apple shares are up 1.75% Tuesday.