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Apple CEO Cook confirms Apple's interest in mobile payments

Published: Jan 28, 2014, 12:13 AM

Alan F.

Apple CEO Cook confirms Apple's interest in mobile payments

Just a few days ago, we passed along a report stating that Apple was working on a mobile payments system of its own, giving online store executive Jennifer Bailey the job of starting it up. Apple CEO Tim Cook's role during Monday's conference call with analysts was to answer the Q&A after the call. Fielding a question about mobile payments, Cook said that Apple has been intrigued with the business and in fact, it was one of the reasons why the TouchID fingerprint scanner was included on the Apple iPhone 5s.

Cook did say that he had nothing to announce on Monday, but came pretty darn close. He said that with the demographics of iOS users and with the amount of money that goes through the platform, mobile payments could be a big opportunity for Apple. Considering the report from last week, we'd say it is a good bet that Apple launches a mobile payments service soon.

"(Mobile payments) we've been intrigued with, and that was one of the thoughts behind Touch ID. So I don't have anything specific to announce today, but you can tell by looking at the demographics of our customers, and the amount of commerce that goes through iOS devices versus the competition, that it's a big opportunity for the platform."-Tim Cook, CEO, Apple

And we can't leave the subject of the conference call without talking about the iWatch hint given by Corporate Controller Luca Maestri. The executive said that Apple is investing "in areas that are not visible." When asked exactly what that meant, Cook said that Apple is "working on things that are not shipping today. Things you can't see today."
source: TechRadar