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| A customer pays for a beverage with Apple Pay at a coffee shop in Seoul on March 21. Yonhap |
By Kim Jae-heun
A 32-year-old surnamed Kim living in Gangseo District, Seoul, recently started using a credit card issued by Hyundai Card to use Apple Pay, which began its service here on March 21. After using it for nearly a week, Kim feels there are not many restaurants and coffee shops that have adopted the service yet.
"Convenience stores are the only places that support Apple Pay. Small restaurants and coffee shops in my town do not have near field communication (NFC) terminals installed at their stores," Kim said. "I feel like it needs more time for people to use Apple Pay conveniently here and there."
A 59-year-old housewife surnamed Choi was also disappointed to learn she cannot yet use Apple Pay at any of Shinsegae's affiliated stores.
"I didn't know I wouldn't be able to use Apple Pay at Shinsegae Department Store or Emart until I read news about it. Many housewives shop for groceries at Emart and it is inconvenient that the discount store doesn't support the payment system. It definitely needs to adopt the service as soon as possible," Choi said.
Over one million people registered for Apple Pay on the first day of its launch, but many were disappointed by its usability. A number of people experienced a server error when using Apple Pay on the first two days, while many restaurants and coffee shops still did not have near field communication (NFC) terminals to enable payments.
Shinsegae has not revealed any plan to support Apple Pay at any of its affiliated retailers including Starbucks Korea, the country's largest coffee house chain.
Even some of the credit cards issued by Hyundai Card, a local partner of Apple Pay, cannot be linked with the mobile payment service.
Its premium American Express Card that Hyundai Card has an exclusive partnership with does not support Apple Pay. Nor do the Diners and UnionPay brand cards that Hyundai Card offers.
"We will continue to expand the number of NFC terminals," the CEO of Hyundai Card Chung Tae-yong said on social media on March 23 after receiving many complaints that there aren't enough stores with NFC terminals. "Many (restaurants and coffee shop) franchise firms are actively considering the service based on the initial response (from consumers)."
