Apple Pay Adds Support for Discover Cards

April 28, 2015         By: Steven Anderson

Discover announced that it has reached an agreement with Apple Pay, allowing Discover cardholders to add cards to Apple Pay Passbook systems starting this fall. With the Discover card in the Passbook, users will be able to make both mobile payments in stores via contactless systems through Apple Pay as well as in-app purchases.

But it’s not just Discover cardholders, either; reports suggest that Discover Network services, including Discover Debit, will all be able to get in on the action.

What’s more, users will be able to take advantage of the standard array of Discover benefits, including Cashback Bonus and the Freeze It security tool, helping to make mobile payments not only easier to use, but also safer and even more valuable to the everyday user.

Discover’s Diane Offereins, who serves as president of payment services, offered a note of commentary on the release, saying “As the mobile payments landscape matures, Discover remains committed to giving cardmembers secure options for using their cards and mobile devices. Discover’s focus on simplicity and value for our cardmembers aligns well with the way Apple Pay makes purchases easy and convenient.”

This works well on a couple fronts. Not only do we have Apple Pay branching out and bringing in new consumers in the form of Discover card users, but we also have Discover card users getting a whole new mobile payment platform to put to work.

This expands the reach and versatility of both products at once, and allows the overlapping markets to be more thoroughly satisfied. That’s a slice of good news, and one that Apple Pay will need down the line as more and more mobile payment solutions get in on the action.

The last thing Apple would likely want is to give Samsung or Microsoft or any of the other firms out there a walkover victory by taking the entire Discover cardholder market home.

It’s clear, however, that this is a brisk market with a lot of changes in store. Only time will tell just how well Apple’s push on the Discover market will do, but at this stage of the game versatility is likely just another word for “better chance to come out on top.”