Apple Pay Comes to Target, Taco Bell and Other Top Merchants

Today, Apple announced a large expansion for its mobile wallet. Apple Pay will soon be available at Target, Taco Bell, Jack in the Box and other top merchants.

When the expansion is complete, Apple Pay will be available in 74 of the top 100 merchants in the United States, as well as 65% of all merchants.

Target is currently rolling out Apple Pay across all 1,850 of their stores. The service should be available at all locations “in the coming weeks.” Mastercard also announced today that there contactless cards will be accepted at Target soon. Customers will be able to use the tap-and-pay feature at the register.

The Apple Pay roll out for Taco Bell, Jack in the Box, and other merchants will take place over the next several months.

Last year, Apple’s biggest growth came from partnerships with Costco, 7-Eleven and CVS Pharmacy. Apple Pay was ranked the top peer-to-peer payment system by Consumer Reports. Consumers seem to value the mobile wallet’s privacy and data security features.

Despite these strides, Apple Pay still has some work to do to catch up to its Android-based competitor. Samsung Pay utilizes Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST). This allows the mobile wallet to communicate with traditional magnetic strip readers. Other wallets, like Apple Pay, rely on Near Field Communication to transmit payment data. Samsung’s MST makes it compatible with nearly all payment terminals, even if they have not been updated with mobile wallet support.