Apple Pay seems to be grabbing headlines left and right these days. Last week, the company ruffled feathers with the news that Best Buy has given in and decided to accept the payment technology. This was a bit of a scandal considering that Best Buy was one of the founding members of MCX, which plans to unleash its own mobile wallet CurrentC.
This week, another major retailer announced its potential plans to accept Apple Pay, though with a bit less drama this time. Home Depot revealed that it wants to accept the payment form at all of its 2,000 physical retail locations in the U.S., a venture that would make Home Depot the largest retailer to accept Apple Pay. While a spokesperson for the company said Tuesday (May 5) that it is something the company is aiming for, reports said no deal has been reached with Apple to make it a reality.
The spokesperson added that other mobile payment forms may soon be accepted among Home Depot stores in addition to its current integration with PayPal. Some locations already accept Apple Pay, reports said, despite no formal agreement having been reached.
Earlier reports misstated that Home Depot had dropped Apple Pay in those locations. According to the chain’s spokesperson Steve Holmes, that drop was temporary while Home Depot upgraded its point-of-sale systems.
The store-wide acceptance of Apple Pay would be a major push for the platform, which is reportedly gearing up to release the next version, dubbed Apple Pay 2.0 by some experts. It has yet to receive a launch date but investment firm Jeffries revealed new aspects of the upgrade, which include a new rewards program for consumers and the addition of browser-based payments for international merchants. Experts predicted at least a 1 percent earnings per share increase from the next generation of Apple Pay.
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