Starbucks Korea may soon accept Apple Pay

Starbucks Korea is reportedly accepting Apple Pay soon. The coffee chain is working with Apple Inc’s mobile payment service to give customers a new contactless payment option.

Industry insiders said that Apple Pay may become available in Starbucks outlets in South Korea as soon as May. According to The Korea Times, Shinsegae, the operator of the coffee chain in the country, is looking to activate the said payment service so customers will have more choices of paying for their purchases.

This will be more convenient for them as more and more Koreans are using Apple’s iPhone and other devices. Shinsegae said that even by allowing Starbucks to offer Apple Pay, its SSG Pay will not be affected at all.

Based on people who have knowledge of the deal, Starbucks Korea is now tweaking the specifics to operate the near-field communication (NFC) system with assistance from its payment gateway service provider partner. It is working fast to bring Apple Pay to its stores because customers would be more frustrated the longer it delays the availability.

The payment gateway is a merchant service that would be provided by an e-commerce application service company. This authorizes the processing of credit card or direct payment for online retailers, e-commerce businesses, and even traditional brick-and-mortar establishments.

In this case, the payment gateway service provider said that Apple Pay could instantly be put into place because the software that will process the approval requests for every transaction is centralized with the related NFC firmware.

Then again, it was said that an official of Starbucks Korea refused to give details about the availability of Apple Pay in the stores. Rather, he said that things are still being discussed.

"Nothing has been decided yet," the company official stated. "We are monitoring and reviewing the issue before introducing it to our customers for a satisfactory outcome."