Earlier this year, JCPenney axed support for Apple Pay in retail stores. However, in a sudden turn of events, support for the mobile payment option has returned.
MacRumors has the report on Thursday, which states that a JCPenney support employee actually confirmed that Apple Pay (along with other mobile payment options) would be making a return on Wednesday, June 19. As noted in the report, it’s well after that date, so the expectation is now that JCPenney has brought back support for Apple Pay in its retail stores.
JCPenney was forced to remove support for Apple Pay and other mobile payment options earlier this year due to an April 13 deadline from Visa, which was in place in an effort to drop support for older magnetic stripe contactless technology in favor of EMV technology.
A third-party credit card brand made the requirement for all merchants to actively support EMV contactless functionality effective April 13, retiring the legacy MSD contactless technology in place. Given the resources and lead time associated with meeting the new mandate, JCPenney chose to suspend all contactless payment options until a later date. Customers still have the ability to complete their transactions manually by inserting or swiping their physical credit cards at our point-of-sale terminals in stores, an option employed by the vast majority of JCPenney shoppers.
JCPenney has supported Apple Pay for a couple of years now. The abrupt removal of the mobile payment option didn’t sit well with customers, but it’s at least good to see the department store had a good reason to remove it. Better, though, that JCPenney has brought support for Apple Pay back.
How often do you use Apple Pay on a daily basis?