INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Apple has landed a big new partner for Apple Pay in the United States after Costco began accepting the mobile payment service across 750
The retailer plans to include support at its gas stations, but that isn''t yet complete.
The rollout — first reported by MacRumors —
follows limited trials at selected Costco outlets, including a warehouse near its corporate headquarters in Washington.
This new partnership
comes hot on the heels of Apple landing similar deals withCVS and7-Eleven
The deal with CVS is particularly notable since the retailer had held off on supporting the Apple service, to the point that it even
developed its own alternative that is based on barcodes
Apple also secured a deal this summer to add Apple Pay support to eBay which gives it more breath among online retailers, too.
The service
is operational in 30 international markets and, in the United States , it is tipped to account for half of all contactless payments operated
by an OEM by 2020, according to a recent analyst report.
The market for such services — which includesSamsung Pay, Google Pay and others
— is tipped to reach 450 million consumers
Apple, though, is already seeing the benefits
Apple Pay is part of the company ‘services& division which recorded revenue of $9.6 billion in the last quarter, that up 31 percent
