J.P. Morgan Payments has launched Tap to Pay on iPhone, enabling its U.S. merchant clients to accept contactless payments at the point-of-sale.
Sephora will be the first merchant to leverage the service.
“J.P. Morgan’s launch of Tap to Pay on iPhone brings software point-of-sale technology much closer to being widely available in the U.S.,” said Daniel Keyes, Senior Analyst of Merchant Services at Javelin Strategy & Research. “The technology, which enables merchants to accept contactless payments with just a standard smartphone, has been on the rise, and now that another leader in the payments acceptance space is rolling it out, it will only gain more momentum.”
“What’s particularly interesting about this announcement is that it’s launching with Sephora. SoftPOS technology has generally been associated with small- and medium-sized businesses because of its ability to lower costs, but beginning with Sephora shows that there should be interest in softPOS technology from merchants of all sizes,” he added.
The Allure of Contactless Payments
Apple first introduced Tap to Pay on iPhone last year, giving merchants more options at checkout, particularly if consumer prefer to pay via their iPhone or Apple Watch using Near-field Communication (NFC) technology.
Overall, contactless payments are one of the most preferred forms of payment among consumers. In fact, the number of U.S. Apple Pay users is expected to increase by 9 million between 2022 and 2026, according to data from Statista.
As evidenced by growing adoption within various sectors—including transit, retail, and hospitality—enabling and simplifying contactless payments will make a lasting impact for all involved. And J.P. Morgan is certainly thinking about the continued impact it can make on the space long-term.
“Today’s announcement marks a critical moment in time for the evolution of our business. Enhancing the ability for consumers to pay with their preferred method of payment is part of our broader, customer-centric approach to simplify omnichannel payment acceptance for our merchant clients. As consumer payment needs continue to rapidly evolve, this is a significant demonstration of our ability to innovate at scale to support our merchant clients through this ongoing transformation,” said Takis Georgakopoulos, Global Head of Payments at J.P. Morgan in a prepared statement.