Apple to Launch Payments Service on Monday in U.S., Shuns Support for NFC in Tablets

Apple’s new tablets, the iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3, unveiled today, will support the Touch ID fingerprint sensor to enable users to make purchases in apps with Apple Pay, but not in stores with NFC.

Apple CEO TIM Cook, during a keynote to unveil the new tablets and other products, also gave an update for the tech giant’s NFC-enabled mobile-payments platform, Apple Pay, saying it will launch Monday in the U.S. both for purchases in stores and for in-app purchases online. 

He added that more than 500 additional U.S. banks had signed up to support the payments service later this year or early next year. He didn’t name the banks, but most are no doubt small. The new service will be enabled by a free software update to iOS 8 on Apple’s new iPhones and tablets.