A few weeks ago, The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple are planning to expand into the mobile payment market – something CEO Tim Cook hinted at during an earnings call.
A new report by Re/code quotes unnamed executives in the mobile payment industry, who say PayPal are pitching to help Apple in their mobile payment journey.
The sources say PayPal is “willing to white-label parts of its payment service” to be used for Apple’s mobile payments, whether for fraud detection or payment processing.
If true, PayPal’s wish to have a part in Apple’s mobile payment push would suggest they feel threatened by the move, and would rather partner than battle Apple.
The tech giant has an estimated 600m users with credit cards on file – through iTunes accounts – compared to PayPal’s 137m.
Apple were recently awarded a patent application for technology relating to secure payments over Wifi, Bluetooth and NFC.
Add to this their iBeacons feature – currently installed in Apple stores – ticketing app Passbook and TouchID, and Apple have all the armoury needed to revolutionise in-store and third party mobile payments.
PayPal, a subsidiary of eBay, has also been looking to invest in ways to make their service useable in store.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said last week in an earnings call: “The mobile payments area in general is one that we’ve been intrigued with.
“It was one of the thoughts behind Touch ID.”
Re/code’s sources say that while Apple could release a mobile payment system without PayPal, a partnership could not be ruled out.