Target Says It's Working on Getting Apple Pay Into its Stores [Updated]

U.S. retail giant Target may be planning to accept Apple Pay in the future, according to a recent tweet spotted by 9to5Mac.

AskTarget, the retailer's verified customer service account on Twitter, said Apple pay is "awesome" and that Target is "working on getting this technology into our stores." It even quipped "we'll catch up with the 21st century soon!"

@_MAlN - Apple pay is awesome! We're working on getting this Technology into our stores. We'll catch up with the 21st century soon!
— AskTarget (@AskTarget) February 12, 2017

While the tweet originates from an official Target account, it is possible that a customer service representative tweeted inaccurate information.

In May 2015, Target CEO Brian Cornell said the retailer would be "open-minded" about supporting additional payment systems like Apple Pay after implementing chip-and-PIN card support. Target began supporting chip-and-PIN cards in October 2015, but it has yet to support Apple Pay.

Last month, Target confirmed it plans to launch its own mobile payment service in its stores this year. An earlier report said the retailer was leaning towards using QR code technology for the wallet app, rather than NFC, enabling customers to purchase goods by scanning a code at checkout akin to Walmart Pay.

Update: Target currently has "no plans" to support Apple Pay in its stores, a company spokesperson confirmed to MacRumors today. Target has deleted the tweet and said "the information shared with this guest was incorrect."

We have no plans or work underway currently to make Apple Pay available in our stores.

We continue to offer Apple Pay for online purchases in the Target app. And while we are exploring mobile wallet opportunities for our stores, we have no updates on our plans to share at this time.

Target does support Apple Pay in its shopping app for in-app payments.

Related Roundup: Apple Pay

Tag: Target

Top Rated Comments

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itguy06

35 months ago

That may be the case but Samsung Pay doesn't even use NFC. The phone itself vibrates the pattern that is recognized by the card reader.

It doesnt vibrate anything. It uses a high powered magnet to emulate the magnetic strip of the card to the reader. Innovative technology but about 3 years too late. It will only be a matter of a short period of time before it will be rendered obsolete when chips are 100% required.

You have a LOT to learn so I'd say read up before replying.

Rating: 10 Votes

tmiw

35 months ago

Meanwhile, my Galaxy S7 Edge works perfectly to pay at any credit card machine from the Mom and Pop convenience stores to yes, even Target. No BS proprietary protocols to follow and I even gain reward points with every purchase that I can redeem for gift cards. Beat that.

NFC isn't exactly a proprietary protocol either.

Rating: 10 Votes

itguy06

35 months ago

Um. Okay. What I mean, though, is that in order for businesses to utilize Apple Pay, they have to upgrade their point of sale machines to accept the proprietary protocols that Apple demands.

You are wrong. Apple Pay only needs the merchant to support NFC. Nothing special about it from that end. As long as they allow NFC pay you are good to go with Apple Pay or Android Pay.

Rating: 7 Votes

thisisnotmyname

35 months ago

My source card has a chip and it doesn't change a thing. It still works on any reader. Next?

Not if you are using the MST with a merchant that requires chip for chip card transactions. That would be the same as swiping the physical card then refusing to insert the chip.

Rating: 7 Votes

thisisnotmyname

35 months ago

Beat that? OK, mine will keep working when your source card goes chip and the merchant requires the chip to be inserted.

Rating: 6 Votes

noisycats

35 months ago

Working on it!?! Just activate the NFC reader. I call BS on their efforts.

Rating: 6 Votes

farewelwilliams

35 months ago

I'll believe it when I see it. They seem more fixated on selling customers Red Cards than allowing new payment methods.

there might be value in linking red cards to apple pay and therefore reducing the time it takes to check out. these red cards are extremely slow and many 60 year olds somehow keep forgetting their pins

Rating: 4 Votes

corbindavenport

35 months ago

I'll believe it when I see it. They seem more fixated on selling customers Red Cards than allowing new payment methods.

Rating: 4 Votes

Tycho24

35 months ago

That may be the case but Samsung Pay doesn't even use NFC. The phone itself vibrates the pattern that is recognized by the card reader.

Lol.
You thought your phone "vibrates a pattern" & NFC was a proprietary protocol cooked up by Apple...... any other wild tech ideas to share?!
You seriously put an ENORMOUS smile on my face this morning.
"Vibrates the pattern", lol.
When your phone vibrates to let you know you have a text, do you think it's Morse Coding you the text as well? ;0)

Rating: 4 Votes

John.B

35 months ago

I've cut way back on Target visits (despite that there is a store nearby) in part because they have been so actively hostile to their customers over Apple Pay. They don't secure their own payment systems (and break PII rules and regulations by doing things like storing customer PINs with debit card info. And yet, Target continues to believe they can force their customers to tie their bank accounts to their store debit card (i.e. Red Card) or use some hokey QR scanner app.

Um. Okay. What I mean, though, is that in order for businesses to utilize Apple Pay, they have to upgrade their point of sale machines to accept the proprietary protocols that Apple demands.

ApplePay initially worked at stores with NFC payment systems -- like Target, CVS, etc. -- until the stores began to deactivate that functionality from corporate headquarters. The hardware upgrades have been in place for well over a year.

Rating: 4 Votes

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