Today, during Apple’s quarterly conference for the second quarter of 2015, Tim Cook announced that the electronics store, Best Buy, will now be accepting Apple Pay via its app and will also start rolling out in-store NFC support sometime later this year. In the past, when Apple Pay debuted, Best Buy refused to support it and now with time the company has changed its decision.
Following the announcement, Best Buy also pushed an update for its iOS app that now enables consumers to purchase items through Apple Pay, eligible for both home delivery and in-store pickup. The retailer will also open NFC pay via iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus at its checkout counters.
In a press release, the company said,“Today’s consumers have many different ways to spend their money and we want to give our customers as many options as possible in how they pay for goods and services at Best Buy,” it said.
The reason why this step by Best Buy is being cited as noteworthy because it has been a part of Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX) along with other retailers such as, Walmart, Sears, CVS, and Rite Aid. MCX was building a mobile payments platform, CurrentC, to rival against Apple Pay at popular retail chains.
However, the CurrentC project couldn’t couldn’t garner much, while Apple Pay has gained worthy acceptance since its launch and soon it will also get the support from four major credit card brands.
Interestingly, another MCX partner, Meijer, has also given green signal to Apple Pay even though it was in an agreement with MCX merchants to not accept multiple payment services. Best Buy is still in partnership with MCX and CurrentC, but after witnessing the growth of Apple Pay, the company couldn’t resist any longer from adopting it.