As Apple Pay launches, others reimagine the credit card
Culture
IOS 8.1 is here, but can Apple Pay buy you happiness?
I'm Bridget Carey and this is your c/net update.
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Apple has release IOS 8.1.
It's an update to the mobile operating system.
And for most iPhone and iPad users, that means you'll notice the return of the camera roll photo storage.
But with the update new iPhone 6 models also gained the power of ApplePay.
Don't expect ApplePay to kill the wallet overnight.
It's gonna be a slow process to get people to use it.
This is only for people with the new iPhone 6 and only a few retail stores are accepting it.
Including McDonald's and Macy's.
It also can't work with every credit card.
So if you're a big shopper at Macy's, you can't even use your Macy's credit card with Apple Pay.
The largest retailer, Walmart, isn't using Apple Pay, and Best Buy won't use it either.
Best Buy had this technology in stores but it took it away when Google Wallet didn't catch on.
The most important part, though, about Apple Pay, isn't how much faster you can check out by scanning your fingerprint and tapping your phone to a sensor, it's actually the security technology.
When you use apple pay, the phone isn't giving the store your credit card number, it's instead using a one-time use code.
So if a hacker compromises the retail store's payment system, they won't get your credit card info.
Now, every week there's a new report about a retailer getting hacked.
This will cut down on the need to worry about your card being hacked from a store.
But ironically, the stores that have been recently hacked, like Target, Home Depot, and Kmart, they're not using Apple Pay.
There's a slow movement to reinvent the credit card as we know it.
Master Card and a company called Zwipe.
Are creating credit cards with finger print scanners on the card.
And it's similar to using an iPhone, you put your thumb on the censor and tap the card at a register.
And that card comes out next year.
Some companies envision even bigger changes.
Plastc is a digital card that holds data on up to twenty cards.
You pick which one you want to use by selecting it on a touch screen that's built on the card itself.
It'll also have technology for tap-to-pay and ship [UNKNOWN] and security.
With 20 cards in one, let's hope you don't lose it.
Meanwhile, in music news, the streaming service Spotify has a new family subscription plan.
Up to five people can be on a Spotify family plan, where one family member pays the standard $10 monthly price.
And every additional member pays half that, just five dollars.
But it all has to go into one bill.
And we could soon see lower music streaming prices from Apple.
Beats Music which Apple owns is reportedly looking into lowering it's price to five dollars a month.
That's according to the blog Recode.
Right now streaming unlimited on Beats costs $10 a month.
That's your tech news update, and you can always get more details at Cnet.com.
From our studios in New York, I'm Bridget Carey,
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