Apple Pay To Include Discover

Apple Insider reported on September 10th that Discover was in discussions to become part of the Apple Pay payments scheme.

This information was confirmed as part of a tweet that was sent by a Discover company representative. “We are in discussions with Apple to add Discover cards to Apple Pay in the future,” was the tweet, but no specific timetable was disclosed. Discover was the only card network not included as part of the Apple Pay launch on September 9th. The network, which has a 5 percent market share, has a global footprint as a result of its acquisition of Diners Club in 2008 for $165 million.

It was rumored that Apple was in discussions to acquire Discover as a way to enter mobile payments, should their negotiating efforts with the card networks collapse. Discover, as both an issuer and a network,  would have provided Apple with a global payments footprint and direct access to its roughly 60 million cardholders.