Apple Pay vice president Jennifer Bailey recently sat down with CNN anchor Christine Romans at a private event in San Francisco to discuss the future of payments, including Apple Pay and the Apple Card.
As to be expected, Bailey made some boilerplate comments about the security, privacy, and ease of use of both Apple Pay and the Apple Card, but she also touched on cryptocurrency, tipping, and mobile IDs.
On cryptocurrency, Bailey said it is an "interesting" field with "long-term potential":
We're watching cryptocurrency. We think it's interesting. We think it has interesting long-term potential, but we're primarily focused on what consumers are using today… and are happy with. Most people are pretty happy with their debit card as an example. And so helping people do that in a more secure way on our platform and in a more real time way is what we're focused on.
On tipping, Bailey said it is one area where Apple still needs to "work more on that":
We get that feedback a lot from customers about when they start using mobile payments and Apple Pay, they stop carrying cash. And one of the key areas where they would like us to do more is actually in tipping. You'll see in some of the point-of-sale systems now great tipping functionality if you pay with mobile payments, but still that personal touch is one area where we still need to work more on that.
Apple Pay and the Wallet app have already provided digital alternatives to credit and debit cards, student IDs, movie tickets, boarding passes, and more. Asked what the hardest remaining item in a wallet would be to digitize, Bailey said identities, such as a driver's license or a passport:
I think the hardest thing is identity. And the reason is that identity, to be legal, has to be government issued… it has to be authenticated by the government. We see across the globe many countries starting to use mobile to add passport… you might use mobile passport when you're going through airports today. It is moving, and I think it will continue. It's not too far away… it just won't be as fast as some of the other activities we have.
Bailey also confirmed that Apple is "working on" allowing users to export their Apple Card financial data to a budgeting app like Mint.
Top Rated Comments
tipping? bleh.
**edit, why are my posts being edited?
"tipping? bleh. (I tip well, but its getting pretty ridiculous as prices continue to go up and they dont pay their people)."
I just want Apple to make great computers and OSes so that I can do my work most efficiently. I want Apple Computer Company - not Apple Consumer Company
The last thing that anyone should want is a single powerful company that has all your data, what you think (texts, Siri etc), what you spend it on (banking) - and is willing to share it with the government (Apple has already admitted this in released emails - Tim Cooks protests and tweets are not legally binding). Because, you know, company CEOs, like presidents, aren't always on your side. They are on the side of the shareholders
On a recent podcast, Adam Curry reminded me that under Steve Jobs Apple’s mission statement was
“To make a contribution to the world by making tools for the mind that advance humankind.”
Apple’s current mission statement is “Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.”
And now Apple is revolutionizing the credit card industry - buy, buy, buy more, people!