A year after designing the Clover POS System, Clover Network Inc. and its parent company First Data Corporation worked closely with Apple Inc. to prepare for the launch of Apple Pay in October 2014.
Conceptually similar to PayPal and Google Wallet, Apple Pay allows certain Apple mobile device users to make payments at retail stores and checkout online. This procedure incorporates the use of mobile money – an alternative form of financially regulated payment that allows users to pay for goods via mobile phones.
Advantages of Apple Pay
Unlike its predecessors, Apple Pay has several advantages over other mobile payment applications:
- Apple Pay is enabled and accessible through Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. This enables contactless communication between your iPhone and payment terminal in a POS system. You can make payment and access content without the use of internet.
- Apple Pay retrieves customer’s credit card data from iTunes. This means that signing up for Apple Pay is easy and does not require any documentation or effort on part of the customer.
- Apple Pay is safer than other mobile payment apps. The consumer’s ID is verified from iOS Passbook at the point of purchase using the Touch ID Sensor. The credit card data is safely relayed from the merchant software to the Credit Card Company and back to the customer.
- All transactions have to be verified by the customer’s fingerprint.
- Apple Pay uses industry-standard EMV protocols that make it compatible with a wide range of contactless payment terminals used today, including the Clover POS system.
Clover POS and Apple Pay – For Customers
With the advent of Apple Pay and its incorporation by Clover POS, the merchant community, retailers, and iPhone users can avail several benefits.
Customers look for a transaction procedure, which is as easy as touching a smartphone to a payment terminal of a POS system. At the same time, they want their credit card data and credit information safe from unauthorized access and use.
Clover POS combined with Apple Pay ensures that. You can now simply hold your iPhone next to the contactless reader of a Clover POS, while keeping your finger at the Touch ID. The NFC technology does the rest. A brief vibration of the device indicates that the payment has been successful. This saves both time and hassle for you.
Benefit for the Merchants
As the consumers are provided with easy payment methods, it is likely that the business of the merchants is expected to grow.
Since Apple Pay does not require a username or a password for use, consumers can easily download applications from their iPhone that will link them with local merchants and enable easy sale-purchase transactions between the two. This provides an incentive for merchant and local traders/retailers business to grow.
The US Government has imposed a liability shift for all POS terminals to EMV by October 2015. Since the Apple Pay is already EMV protocol approved, the mandatory transition for the merchants is easier.
