by Dan Moren
NYT: Apple Pay to add rewards program
Writing for Times, Brian X. Chen reports that Apple may roll out a rewards program for its digital wallet at next month’s WWDC:
Apple is preparing to announce details about enhancements to Apple Pay at its software conference next month. Those include a rewards program for the mobile wallet service, said two people briefed on the product.
It’s pretty vague on exactly what kind of rewards we’re talking about. In most cases you’re using your credit card (or debit card) anyway, and accruing whatever rewards your issuer already provides–miles, hotel points, cashback, etc. Will Apple add its own perks, or will this be more like coupons or discounts?
Or is this something else entirely? Back at Apple’s September event last year, Apple employees at the demo area told both me and Jason that Apple Pay could automatically take into account if you had a rewards card for the place you’re shopping, but I’ve personally seen no indication of that in the wild. Perhaps it didn’t quite get implemented in the initial release?
Apple, for its part, has been vehement about not sharing data with retailers, which also raises the question of how its partners will feel about it Cupertino taking another slice of the pie, and leaving them with just crumbs.