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Conventional wallets may be obsolete

By: Marquez Slaughter

Apple Inc. will release a feature for iPhone 6 carriers this month that will save pocket space and provide financial security.

“Gone are the days of searching for your wallet,” Apple.com said on its website advertising the Apple Pay, a new feature that will allow iPhone 6 users to pay directly from their phones.

This single feature holds all the payment cards that the individual allows it to.

The feature accepts Visa, Mastercard, and American Express. It also has participating banks, such as Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, Citi, Wells Fargo and American Express. Coming soon to the lists of banks are PNC, US Bank, USAA, Navy Federal Credit Union and Barelaycard.

“Apple Pay lets you use iPhone 6 to pay at over 220,000 locations accepting contactless payments and within participating apps,” said Apple.com. “And there are even more stores and apps to come.”

To pay, the individual has to touch the “Touch ID” button for security purposes, and once there is a slight vibration and a beep, then the individual is notified that his or her payment was complete. All it takes is a verification of the iPhone owner’s finger print.

Despite the convenience, some would still prefer using a more traditional payment method.

“I feel at ease knowing that I have something tangible that I can hold onto rather than using my finger print on my phone,” Jalynn Sandolph, an iPhone 6 carrier, said.

Although this feature may be a brilliant idea from Apple, some iPhone 6 users are not persuaded into using the feature, such as Jailisa Jones, a junior VSU student.

“Personally, I don’t like it, because I feel like someone can hack into my phone,” Jones said.

Jones said that she would rather type her information in herself during the checkout process to stay safe.

According to Apple, the new feature is more secure than paying with a credit or debit card in person because the individual’s card number is visible. With Apple Pay, however, the number is saved on a chip in the iPhone and not stored on the Apple server to avoid anyone seeing the card number.

If the phone is lost or stolen, then the Find My iPhone app has to be used or the iPhone has to be wiped clean of memory.

This feature is only compatible with iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. It will be compatible with iPhone 5, 5s, and 5c when paired with the Apple Watch, which will be releasing early in 2015.

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