CUPERTINO, Calif.–Apple announced it is expanding its Apple Pay system from apps to websites.
Currently, iPhone users load their credit card or debit card information into the system and then tap and pay with their phone in participating stores, or they can make purchases within iPhone apps without needing to add any additional information.
Now, Apple is adding that functionality to websites, which analysts believe could have a far larger impact than its current deployment.
With the new Apple Pay expansion, the biometric fingerprint sensor will be integrated into the solution, but in a different way. According to sources, online shoppers who are using an Apple computer and who want to use Apple Pay will get a notification on their iPhone to confirm the transaction. Pressing their finger to the phone’s fingerprint sensor will authenticate the transaction on the computer. Analysts have suggested this will help address the abandonment that often occurs when shoppers find they have to enter payment information and
Analysts have further predicted the Apple initiative will have an impact on PayPal, which is the most popular alternative online payment method, as will a similar move being made by Google, which announced earlier this year that it was working to bring its payment system, Android Pay, to websites as well.