Apple Pay was trending across social media today on news the payment option will soon be accepted at Target, Taco Bell and other major U.S. retailers.
According to Apple, 74 of the top 100 U.S. merchants now accept Apple Pay. The company touted the service’s ease of use, security and speed at the register.
But what did the internet think?
As of about 4 p.m., sentiment about Apple Pay seemed to be mostly neutral or positive, although there were some negative reactions, too, according to socialmention.com. Generally positive tweets were outnumbering generally negative tweets about 6:1 on microblogs (such as Twitter and similar platforms), the social media metrics site said.
On Twitter, there were declarations Apple Pay was “taking over.” One happy customer tweeted: “Target finally has apple pay !!!!!!! LOOOORDDDD Take all my COINSSSSSSS.”
Robert Stephens, founder of The Geek Squad, tweeted the fraud rate for Apple Pay must be “almost zero” and that any company or website not accepting the payment option should send up a red flag for consumers.
The march continues. I have to imagine the fraud rate for Apple Pay is almost zero. Any company or website not offering it should be a warning to every consumer. https://t.co/1FlQcnOjlf
— Robert Stephens (@rstephens) January 22, 2019
Some Twitter users mentioned other retailers, asking when they would follow suit and add Apple Pay.
Abroad, the news met a more skeptical and unimpressed audience. For instance, a tech analyst based in Canada called the mobile payments scene in the U.S. “confounding.”
“In Canada, we’ve been able to use Apple Pay almost everywhere for years because we’ve had credit card-based tap-to-pay most places for… a decade? Get those terminals everywhere, U.S. friends!”
https://twitter.com/reneritchie/status/1087715797827534849
A user experience writer and technical product marketer based in the Netherlands mocked the reaction in the U.S. to the news.
“America: wow Apple pay is at one more store now,” he wrote in a tweet. “Everyone else: wow uh ok it’s accepted in my entire country.”
https://twitter.com/ow/status/1087792400779620352
It’s worth noting that Target separately announced it will soon accept not just Apple Pay, but Google Pay and Samsung Pay, as well as “contactless cards” from Mastercard, Visa, American Express and Discover in all stores.




