Apple is currently in talks with a number of major US banks about developing a peer-to-peer cash transfer service that will probably be related to Apple Pay, the company’s mPayment platform.
At least, that’s the rumor going around; neither Apple nor the banks in question – Wells Fargo, Capital One, US Bancorp, and JP Morgan Chase, allegedly – have made any public statements about such a platform. But it would seem to be a natural extension from Apple Pay, and it would also help Apple to compete against rival PayPal, which recently launched a similar service called PayPal.me, and has also made pioneering efforts in this area through its Venmo app.
The Wall Street Journal cites sources as claiming that Apple isn’t planning to charge the banks any fees for such a system, even though it currently takes a small slice of the fees associated with credit card transactions via Apple Pay. That probably means Apple is seeking to use peer-to-peer payments as a means to an end – probably to strengthen the user base of the Apple Pay platform. The WSJ’s sources also suggested that Apple might leverage an existing peer-to-peer service engineered by the banks called clearXchange, but, like all other details on this matter, that isn’t clear.
What is clear is that Apple has an incentive to strengthen its position in the growing digital payment and mPayment market. And as a cheeky response from PayPal pointed out, that kind of competition will ultimately be a win for consumers: “We welcome any development that encourages people to address the awkwardness of dealing with cash when paying friends or family back,” the spokesperson said.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
Follow Us