A new report indicates Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) may partner with Visa Inc (NYSE:V) for a mobile payments system in the near future. Visa recently made some new changes to improve financial security and allow tech companies to expand their mobile payment offerings.
Why Apple may team up with Visa
Josh Beck, analyst for Pacific Crest, thinks Apple could really capitalize on these new changes and believes a partnership between the companies is on the horizon. Given the payments, handsets, technology, and internet landscape, an Apple/Visa partnership would make a lot of sense. Beck predicts a partnership could happen as early as this upcoming fall.
Apple already has a significant consumer base with many of the consumers on the affluent side. The company already has the Passbook app which can be used to store mobile coupons, tickets, and more. The iOS maker could collect the credit card info stored on iTunes with Passbook to team up with Visa for a scalable payments platform.
Visa’s launch of Visa Checkout
Financial giant Visa just introduce Visa Checkout, a payment system which can be used for online or mobile shopping. The system was designed to simplify the shopping experience. Right now, this new payment system is available with a limited number of stores including Teleflora, Rakuten, Neiman Marcus, Petco, TicketMaster, Cymax, LiveNation, KarmaLoop, Wine Enthusiast Catalog, Beyond The Rack, among others. More stores will be added in time.
Unfortunately, Beck doesn’t expect this rumored partnership to be a big moneymaker for Apple. Although it is likely to pave a pathway for Apple to become a big player in the mobile payment industry, it still highly unlikely Apple will see a significant increase in profits.
There are other similar mobile payment systems in the works. MCX is one of those upcoming payment systems and this one is backed by Wal-mart among other retailers. It is predicted to debut sometime next year.
