UPDATE: Braintree will be accepting Apple Pay, according to this blog post. But, Apple Pay doesn’t list them as a preferred partner. It certainly seems like Braintree was passed over by Apple, but the tech-focused company will still be able to conduct transitions via Apple Pay.
In a series of tweets, Square co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey appeared to confirm what Bank Innovation reported earlier: that Square would be supporting Apple Pay.
But something odd is going on with Apple and PayPal.
In a series of tweets posted during and after the massive Apple announcement yesterday, Square’s CEO, Jack Dorsey, said that the company would build a point-of-sale register that would support any payment mechanism, and that this was Square’s plan all along. The company recently announced an EMV-ready reader, but not a terminal alongside it. Bank Innovation heard rumblings about Square and PayPal being able to support Apple Pay, the Cupertino, Calif.-based company’s new payment system.
Our millions of sellers will be able to accept any form of payment that comes across the counter, including Apple Pay!
— Jack (@jack) September 9, 2014
@kevinmarks Register will support every mainstream payment device.
— Jack (@jack) September 9, 2014
@kevinmarks we’re building a full point of sale! Always have been. Swiping a card was most mainstream then (and now).
— Jack (@jack) September 9, 2014
But, we’ve heard nothing from PayPal. The company does not look like it will support Apple Pay based on this list of “current providers” that Apple made public yesterday. However, our sources maintain that PayPal and Apple had engaged in talks, but it certainly looks like those fell through and that PayPal may have settled for the Braintree-bitcoin announcement yesterday at TechCrunch Disrupt.
While most of the financial institutions involved in Apple Pay have touted the news, so far PayPal PR hasn’t offered much. We asked for clarification on PayPal’s role in Apple Pay and got a curious boilerplate response from PayPal about how PayPal’s “DNA is payments.” We’ve asked PayPal to clarify and will update this post if they respond.