Apple boosts its digital wallet offer with desktop functionality

At its global conference earlier this week, Apple unveiled plans to make an Apple Pay button available for website developers to embed on desktop versions of transactional websites.

The button will link to the shopper’s iPhone, and they will then be asked to authorise the purchase using touch ID fingerprint technology.

Apple introduced its rapid payment technology to the UK last year allowing shoppers to use mobile phones to make purchases at checkouts in bricks-and-mortar stores, and via mobile devices from participating ecommerce sites.

This latest extension to the scheme allows shoppers using desktop devices to make Apple Pay purchases from participating sites, removing the need to manually input card details.

However, the desktop technology will be restricted to consumers using a Safari web browser.

Earlier this year, Google launched its own contactless payment technology in the UK with a model that supports contactless and in-app purchases.

Contactless payments are growing at a fast pace. Visa said the method surpassed three billion transactions in Europe last year and Mastercard has said that all new payment terminals in the UK will be contactless-enabled from next year.