VeriFone iPhone

Apple outfits its employees with mobile devices to expedite checkout inside its stores. Clerks use iPhones as part of Apple’s EasyPay payment system, which allows iPhone users to walk into an Apple store, take an item off the rack, scan its barcode, enter an Apple ID and three-digit card-verification value to make payment, and walk out.

Now Apple will use the VeriFone PayWare Mobile e315, an iPhone 5- and iPod Touch 5-compatible case that includes both magnetic-stripe and chip card readers and a near-field communication chip for contactless payments. To date, no Apple devices are equipped with NFC chips. Apple did not respond to a Digital Transactions News inquiry. The case also has a built-in PIN pad and a 2D laser barcode imager.

Apple could be preparing for the October 2015 liability shift associated with the U.S. migration to chip cards using the Europay-Visa-MasterCard payment standard.

“The key important factor here is that Apple is upgrading to EMV readiness in the United States, ” says Rick Oglesby, senior analyst at Double Diamond Group, a Denver-based payments consulting firm. “They are obviously a pretty large merchant so we can add them to the list of large merchants that are going EMV-ready in advance of the deadline.”

The move also is important to VeriFone, Oglesby notes. “Any movement towards EMV migration is important for VeriFone, which is in a position to make a lot of money during the transition, ” he says. “Having Apple on its books as a customer will be an additional boost for VeriFone since Apple is perceived to be a trendsetter in the market and other companies are likely to follow Apple’s lead.”

Apple is keenly watched for any movement within payments, with Tim Cook , its chief executive, earlier this year calling mobile payments “a big opportunity on the platform.”

Though the adoption of EMV-capable mPOS hardware is notable, what it does not portend is anything specific about Apple’s potential long-term digital-wallet strategy or the inclusion of NFC on future iPhone models, Oglesby says.

“NFC is already included in the VeriFone off-the-shelf sleds, and the [card] networks incentivize merchants to adopt NFC/contactless technology within the EMV migration roadmap, ” he says. “It therefore wouldn’t make sense to purchase non-NFC sleds which would need to be custom-made, would cost more, and would delay the implementation schedule. Therefore, we can’t draw any conclusions regarding the future of Apple and NFC based on this change.”