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This story is part of WWDC 2022, CNET’s complete coverage from and about Apple’s annual developers conference.
James Martin/CNET
Apple Pay, the company’s mobile-payment service, is well on its way to expanding its footprint globally.
Apple Pay will be available in over 1 million locations across the US within the next month, Jennifer Bailey, vice president of Internet Services, announced during her company’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) keynote on Monday. That figure is four times greater than the number of locations Apple Pay launched last year in the US.
The announcement was accompanied by Bailey’s claim that developers are seeing a “two-times increase” in the number of checkouts using Apple Pay within their apps.
Apple also said at the event that Square, the mobile-payment company that provides a credit card swiper that connects to an iPhone or iPad, is launching a new card reader later this year. That card reader will integrate with Apple Pay, allowing the company’s millions of merchants to accept payments through Apple’s service.
Apple this week is hosting its Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. More than 5,000 app makers are attending the two-hour keynote speech on Monday, as well as the more than 100 technical sessions held during the week for information about the software powering Apple’s various devices.
While Apple is probably best known for its hardware — slickly designed products such as the iPhone and iPad — just as important are the experiences on those devices. It’s critical that Apple make a strong impression at WWDC with the next version of its operating systems. The company’s ability to control every aspect of its products — something that began when Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak founded Apple in 1976 — has been a key ingredient for creating the tech juggernaut.
It’s vital for Apple to get developers excited about its newest software and devices because its continued success relies on the creation of new apps for its iPhone and iPad. Same for Apple Watch. People aren’t shelling out $349 to $17,000 just for a watch. Rather, they want a device that does things like call an Uber car from your wrist, unlock your hotel room by holding the smartwatch near the door or pay for groceries at Whole Foods.
Apple Pay has grown quickly since Apple launched the mobile payments service in October, though Apple now faces more competition from Google’s Android Pay, announced in late May, and Samsung’s mobile payments service, called Samsung Pay. In March, Apple said the service was available in 700,000 locations, up from 220,000 from when it launched. And more than 2,500 banks supported the service compared with about 500 at launch.
In January, Apple said Apple Pay made up more than $2 out of every $3 spent on purchases using contactless payments. (Contactless payments cover any devices — smart-cards included — that make payments using a radio frequency.). Cook has said that
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