Apple added 14 new retailers to its steadily growing list of merchants supporting Apple Pay after the announcements made at the Spring Forward event Monday (March 9).
Now, with 61 merchants under its belt, Apple Pay is accepted at 700,000 locations across the U.S., including 40,000 Coca-Cola vending machines.
Coco-Cola, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook said, plans to support Apple Pay on about 100,000 vending machines by the end of the year. “So if you’re like me, you have stood too many times in front of that vending machine trying to unwrinkle your dollar bill and get it to be recognized and those days are over.”
Among the updated list of merchants are Fuddruckers, Jersey Mike’s, Bashas’, Coca-Cola Vending, Dan’s Fresh Market, Dick’s Fresh Market, Jamba Juice, Lin’s Fresh Market, Macey’s Food & Drug, Office Max, Pep Boys, Regal Cinemas, Walt Disney World and JetBlue.
Widening its support for card-not-present transactions, Apple’s expanded list also includes 29 mobile applications like Uber, Starbucks, Airbnb and OpenTable among others.
GameStop, the multi-brand consumer electronics retail chain announced yesterday its plan to roll out Apple Pay at its 4,200 video game stores across the U.S., making it the latest addition to the growing list of merchants accepting Apple Pay.
Apple Pay, which initially started with just six banks is currently being supported by 2,500 banks and has tripled the number of locations accepting it, Cook said.
L.L Bean was added to the list of five other retailers including Urban Outfitters, Acme, Anthropologie, Albertsons and Free People, which are expected to soon support Apple Pay.
With the release of Apple Watch, the company expects its NFC capability to propel usage across its growing list of supporting merchants. “Apple Pay is forever changing the way we pay for things,” Cook said. “It has gotten off to the most amazing start and has enormous momentum.”