Apple Pay Faces Hemispheric Pressure

Apple Pay is facing acceptance in one hemisphere but attacks in another. While Walmart in the U.K. is tip-toeing around supporting Apple Pay, the Australian banks and retailers are shouting for iPhone access by third-party digital wallet apps. Meanwhile, a risk-loving iPhone case manufacturer is delivering on a product with specs that are supposedly still unknown.

Asda Is Thinking About Apple Pay… Maybe

Walmart’s subsidiary in the U.K., Asda, is testing Apple Pay. So far, Walmart in the U.S. has refused to support Apple Pay and instead rolled out its own app, Walmart Pay, for use with iOS and Android in December 2015. Asda is being noncommittal about future plans and is not saying whether there may be a wider rollout of Apple Pay to its 626 U.K. stores.

According to AppleInsider, although some retailers have announced plans for Apple Pay in the past, some still have not supported Apple Pay; Anthropologie and Forever 21 are two examples.

Some promising news for Apple Pay, however, also in the U.K.: Clydesdale Bank, Yorkshire Bank and digital banking service B began supporting Apple Pay for U.K. cardholders a week ago.

Apple Again Fighting NFC Code Demands

Apple again is fighting off demands to open its source code. This time, a number of Australian retailers and payments associations are supporting three Australian banks that want Apple to give third-party access to its secure NFC module for Apple Pay.

According to AppleInsider, the three Australian banks argue that Apple is anticompetitive because it restricts its NFC technology to Apple Pay only. The banks have filed a request with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to require Apple to allow third-party digital wallet apps to be installed on iPhone hardware.

One of the retailers, Coles, which is also a credit card issuer, argues that opening up NFC technology is in the best interests of consumers, who should have more choice in digital wallet apps. Apple maintains that opening up the iPhone’s NFC would “fundamentally diminish” its security, which is certainly not in consumers’ best interests. Touché.

Apple Again Trying Social Media Apps

Apple is building momentum for its new iPhone and iPad releases. Bloomberg reported that Apple is taking on Snapchat and Facebook with a video- and image-sharing app to be launched in 2017. While Snapchat is popular among Millennials, Facebook is steadfastly a Baby-Boomer favorite, so it looks like Apple is maximizing target market opportunity. The app will run on new iPhone and iPads.

Most interesting is that Apple is touting a one-handed design and an image capture, edit and upload process that takes less than one minute. As if learning to text on an iPhone weren’t enough!

Apple plans to reach further into the social media space, although a privacy panel that examines Apple’s features that collect customer data stored on devices may delay releases.

A previous foray into social networking by Apple, Apple Ping, was introduced in 2010 and nixed by Tim Cook in 2012 when iTunes 7 was released.

New iPhone 7 Cases, But Will They Fit?

Someone is betting the house on healthy iPhone 7 sales, and what they are doing could encourage iPhone users to pull out their phones for Apple Pay transactions.

According to AppleInsider, case manufacturer Spigen is already delivering cases for the new phone to retailers without any assurance that they will fit the iPhone 7. The manufacturer has created 15 new cases for the iPhone 7 Plus, which has 18 model variations. The cases range in price from $15 to $40.

Similar risk strategies have seen a 50/50 success rate. Another case maker, Hard Candy, made steel moldings based on leaked models of the iPhone 5 in 2011. The models were not accurate, and the company lost $50,000 worth of steel, not to mention production costs. In 2010, the same strategy was taken with the iPod Touch. That time, cases were available one week after the product launch, and they actually fit.

Apple Pay may be hoping that users are so thrilled with the cases that they will show them to the world and perhaps wave them in the vicinity of an NFC reader here and there in the process.