Apple News

American Express says it is the first major corporate card portfolio that has been activated for Apple Pay, allowing business members to pay on the go using their compatible Apple mobile devices.

Cards that may be used with Apple Pay include only corporate cards issued to employees of commercial card customers working in the U.S. The Corporate Green Card, Corporate Gold Card, Corporate Platinum Card, Corporate Centurion Card, Business Extra Corporate Card and Corporate Defined Expense Program Corporate Card are all eligible. Prepaid Cards and other products are not eligible.

“Businesses today are going digital, and American Express is at the forefront of digital innovation, helping companies to streamline their payments systems and simplify their processes,” said Greg Keeley, Executive Vice President, Global Corporate Payments, American Express. “We continue to invest and expand digital offerings for our corporate customers in ways that maximize security and enhance the user experience.”

For use at contactless merchants

Apple Pay allows American Express members to register their eligible card and pay with their mobile devices at contactless merchants – those using a smart chip technology – in stores, or within participating apps that accept American Express.

The company adopted Apple Pay for its consumer cards and OPEN Small Business Cards in late 2014.

American Express praised Apple Pay for its security and privacy features, saying they mesh well with those that it offers. When you add a card to Apple Pay, the actual card numbers are not stored on the device, nor on Apple servers.

Apple Pay instead issues a unique Device Account Number, that is encrypted and securely stored in the secure element on the customer's device. Each transaction is authorized with a one-time unique dynamic security code.

But as with any wireless, encrypted technology, nothing is 100% secure. As we reported in June, security researchers at the mobile security company Wandera discovered and warned Apple about a vulnerability in iOS that would allow hackers to set up a wi-fi spot and then, once an iDevice connects to it, present it with a fake “captive portal” page imitating the genuine Apple Pay page asking users to enter their credit card data.

How it works

Apple Pay debuted last October, getting Apple into the mobile wallet game. To use it, customers just hold an iPhone 6 near the contactless reader with a finger on Touch ID. You don’t even have to look at the screen.

Among phones, Apple Pay is only compatible with the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, which are the only iPhones equipped with the requisite NFC radio antennae.

To pay with Apple Watch, just double-click the side button and hold the display of Apple Watch up to the contactless reader. A gentle tap and beep confirm that your payment information was sent.

According to MacWorld, Whole Foods Market has seen mobile payments increase by more than 400% since Apple Pay launched last year. Square integration is expected to expand its use to small, independent retail businesses.  

When the new iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, announced Wednesday, go on sale Saturday (pre-orders), T-Mobile customers are going to find it costs less to get it from the carrier than if they were to buy it at the Apple Store.

A lot less.

When Apple introduced its smartphone upgrades, it started the price of the 6s at $27 for 24 months and the Plus at $31 for 24 months. That works out to a price of $648 and $744 respectively.

But in his blog, T-Mobile CEO John LeGere said the carrier will offer the devices at a lower price; $20 a month for 18 months for the 6s and $24 a month for 18 months for the Plus. That means the $648 phone from Apple costs $360 from T-Mobile and the $744 Plus at Apple goes for $432 at T-Mobile.

The catch

The catch is this deal is for customers signing up for Jump! On Demand, a T-Mobile program where you trade in your phone after 18 months and get a new one. It's very similar to an auto lease. The customer does not pay for the residual value of the phone at the end of 18 months.

Those who pay the full price from Apple own their devices once the payments end, just like buying a car. Jump! On Demand customers who want to keep their iPhones at the end of 18 months may do so by making a one time $164 payment for the 6s.

“That means your total cost to own your phone is just $524 – that’s a screaming deal,” LeGere writes. It’s special introductory pricing for our launch, and it won’t last long.”

Lifetime Coverage Guarantee

At the same time, LeGere introduced what he calls the T-Mobile Lifetime Coverage Guarantee for customers buying one of the new iPhones.

“For as long as you use your iPhone 6s or 6s Plus on T-Mobile, if you aren’t completely satisfied with your coverage experience we’ll refund you for every penny you’ve paid for your new device in the first month, or after that, we’ll unlock it at no charge so you can use it with one of the other wireless companies,” LeGere writes.

The CEO said his company will also refund up to a full month of service fees. If a phone is unlocked, he says customers will be able to keep the interest-free payment plan at standard prices.

Though so far unsuccessful in court, disgruntled owners of  MacBook Pro laptops continue to flood social media with their expressions of outrage about what they regard as the expensive machines' substandard performance.

"I have the new 13" MacPro and even when it's plugged in, if you are using a site that is graphic intensive, it starts to drain battery power," a consumer named Sharon said in a ConsumerAffairs posting.

Earlier this year, a federal judge in California dismissed a suit filed by Alex Tomek, who alleged that in 2011, he bought a MacBook Pro based on Apple's claims of "huge leaps in performance."

But Tomek, whose suit sought class-action status, said he soon found the battery was not charging under certain conditions and that sometimes the machine was draining power from the battery even when it was plugged in. Eventually, it go so bad that Tomek said he had to stop working and turn the machine off to let it recharge.

Not enough power

Tomek's suit alleges that the 85-watt power adapter supplied with the machines is not up to the job of powering the the 2.3 gHz Intel Core 17 processor and its accompanying AMD Radeon graphics processor, despite Apple's advertising which promised that users would be able to "surf the web wirelessly for up to 7 hours on a single charge."

Tomek said consumers were complaining about the problem since the machines were released but received no satisfaction from Apple, which the suit alleges has "failed and refused and continues to faill and refuse to provide adequate customers service ... to cope with this defect."

In its defense, Apple argued that Tomek had failed to build a strong case for his assertion that Apple had intentionally misled purchasers. 

In dismissing the case, the judge wrote that the suit was "devoid of any facts demonstrating that Defendant ever represented to Plaintiff that the MacBook Pro's battery would not drain under certain circumstances, even if plugged into an external power source, resulting in a shutdown. In fact, Defendant's support representative told Plaintiff the battery drain was 'expected behavior.'"

Also, the judge noted, Apple claimed battery life would be "up to" seven hours, thus leaving itself considerable wiggle room. Tomek has the option to amend certain provisions of the suit and refile it.