High street chains Pret A Manger and Costa are among the first companies in the sector to confirm they will adopt Apple Pay - new technology that enables customers to pay for purchases with their mobile phones. 

Pret introduced contactless card payments when the technology became available more than six years ago and now nearly half of all card payments are made this way, it said. Apple Pay provides a secure, easy way to pay using your mobile iPhone and launches in the UK next month.

Clive Schlee, Pret chief executive, said: “At Pret, we aim to complete most till transactions in under a minute. Contactless payment has been very popular with our customers and we’re delighted to be able to make shopping at Pret even more convenient for many with the introduction of Apple Pay next month.

“Pret could be one of the first places people come to try out Apple Pay as they pick up their morning coffee or lunch with us, and that’s an exciting prospect.”

Jon Fisher, head of mobile and loyalty at Costa, said: “We currently provide contactless payment across the majority of our UK stores, which is proving really popular, so offering Apple Pay will make our customer experience even more seamless whilst maintaining privacy and security.”

When a user adds credit or debit card details to Apple Pay, the numbers are not stored on either the device or on Apple servers. Instead, a unique Device Account Number is assigned, encrypted and securely stored in the Secure Element of the device and each transaction is authorised with a one-time unique dynamic security code.
Apple says it is easy to set up and works with iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and Apple Watch.

Topics