Apple Pay Picks Up Ten New Merchants

A mid-week update to the Apple Pay page indicates that another 10 physical retailers joined the Apple Pay party this week. Acme, Davis Food & Drug, Firehouse Subs, GameStop, Luby’s, Rubio’s and T-Mobile all joined the Apple accepting list this week – as did the Phoenix Suns’ US Airways Center.

That brings the overall list of physical merchants taking Apple Pay to 68 – according to the website – with another 13 on deck including L.L.Bean, Pep Boys and Marriott.

Acceptance in the physical store is likely impeded by Apple Pay reliance on NFC technology, as fewer than 3 percent of U.S. merchants are currently wired to accept NFC. Apple additionally faces competition from the also-NFC-backed Google Wallet and the now-Loop-enhanced emergent Samsung Pay.