Apple Pay

Europe not Enthused Over Apple Watch, Apple Pay

Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) highly anticipated wearable may face an uphill battle in Europe where, according to a survey, the populace doesn't appear to be interested in the Apple Watch, at least not nearly as much as Chinese and American consumers. The indifference likely stems from the fact that some of the most highly touted features of the device are old news in the Old World.

Europeans not enthusiastic about Apple Watch

German market research group, GfK, conducted the survey, asking 1,000 smartphone owners from each market (Germany, UK, China, US, South Korea) about their interest in various smartwatch functions, assuming the device was completely secure.

Apple Says NFC is Only for Apple Pay

Apple fans have waited a long time for NFC and now they will have to wait even longer to know what else it can do besides drive mobile payments. An Apple spokeswoman told Cult of Mac that the "NFC chip on the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus is only for use with Apple Pay."

Apple Pay

Apple doesn't plan to advertise NFC as a major feature for its new devices and will keep it locked off from third-party developers for at least a year. This means even though the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus have NFC, Apple fans will still be left out of all the NFC fun teased in Samsung commercials.

What technology / standards does Apple Pay use?

Apple Pay uses a NFC (near-field communication) chip in conjunction with Touch ID fingerprint verification, tokenization and an embedded secure element to process payment transactions. The iPhone is designed to interact with any standard EMV (Europay, MasterCard and Visa) contactless point-of-sale terminal.

The logo commonly associated with NFC terminals capable of accepting wireless payments is below.

Apple Pay NFC terminal

How does Apple Pay work with the iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus?

Apple Pay uses the built-in NFC hardware on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus to initiate secure payments using a debit or credit card. Once the iOS 8 Passbook app is configured with credit card information paying at a cash register is simple.

iPhone 6 Apple Pay

1. Hold your iPhone 6 near the Apple Pay NFC terminal in the checkout aisle, with your finger on Touch ID.
2. A specific beep and vibration will occur to indicate payment is complete.

Will my iPhone 5 work with Apple Pay?

Those with the iPhone 5, iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s may be wondering if Apple Pay will work on their device. Can I just download an Apple Pay app to use the service?

The answer is no. Apple Pay is dependent on specific hardware built into the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. The only way an iPhone 5 owner can use Apple Pay is with the Apple Watch, scheduled for launch in early 2015.

Without an Apple Watch, the iPhone 5, iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s cannot make Apple Pay payments.

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