Apple Inc. has expanded its mobile-payments service making it easier for its customers to pay for and purchase certain products and services.
Presently, Apple lets users purchase movies, music and books through its iTunes store. Its users can even pay for digital goods and avail apps within an app through an iTunes account.
Furthermore, in the Cupertino, Calif.-based company's retail stores, consumers can pay for some products by scanning the barcode of the item and paying with a credit card linked to iTunes.
However, purchases of physical goods, like clothing and apparel, and services, like ride-sharing service Uber, are not yet allowed.
In another innovative step, Apple has launched new technologies that would allow paying through the iPhone. It includes a fingerprint reader for security and an iBeacon location-sensor that detects when someone is nearby.
Forrester Research analyst Denee Carrington told the Wall Street Journal, "Apple is absolutely the sleeping giant in the payments world. They have the capability; they just haven't tied it all together."
"If Apple is in the game, it certainly changes the space and would make merchants think differently about who to partner with," she added.
Well, Apple looks like it is starting to cultivate that inner capability.
Soon, a payment service will launch the tech biggie into a fierce battle over easy mobile-payment systems. Along with Apple are the software giant Google Inc, the online auction and shopping website eBay, the e-commerce business PayPal, and startups Stripe Inc and Square Inc.
To nurture the base for expanded mobile-payments services, Apple appointed its longtime executive Jennifer Bailey to head the creation of a payment business within the technology giant.
Ms. Bailey, who used to handle Apple's online sales, declined to comment, so as a spokesperson for the company.
Also, Apple iTunes and App Store chief Eddy Cue has reportedly seeing and talking to personalities in the industry about the company's plans to handle payments for physical goods and services on its devices.
