Gadgetory

paying for things with your phone isn't a new concept but with the launch of Apple pay it might be something people actually start doing Apple pay works like this when you're checking out at the cash register you'll grab your iPhone then without even waking up your device tap or wave the phone in front of the credit card terminal within a few seconds you'll choose the card you want to pay with scan your fingerprint with touch ID and you're on your way out it's true that using a plastic card doesn't take much longer but that's not why you're using Apple pay when you buy things using your phone the merchant you never seized your credit card number in fact your card number isn't even stored on your iPhone what the merchant does see is a token a random 16 digit number that's as useful as an expired credit card tokens are stored in the secure element it's super secure tamper proof and can be only accessed when you initiate a transaction that's why only the iPhone 6 and 6-plus can use Apple pay they've got the secure element Apple isn't the first to introduce mobile payments flashback to 2012 when Google Wallet launched and you'll experience a little deja vu there was tokenization there was a secure element and there was a pretty fast checkout experience well Google didn't have was the infrastructure but it is available for instance cabs in New York City they accept Google Wallet still there are only two hundred and twenty thousand stores in the u.s. that can actually accept Apple pay but hang on tight by the end of 2015 a new law will encourage many merchants to switch to smarter credit card terminals until then consider using Apple pay where you can you'll be thankful during the next credit card secure you