Will Apple Pay Make EMV a Household Name?

Mobile payment system’s use of EMV and tokenization not the focus of coverage.

December 05, 2014

NEW YORK – A year after the Target data breach prompted retailers to step up their transition to EMV-chip acceptance, many consumers finally have EMV cards or can access the same security through Apple Pay’s new mobile wallet. But will they finally change their habits, asks Payments Source in a recent article.

EMV cards improve security over magnetic-stripe cards by adding technology that resists counterfeiting. Besides generating an EMV transaction, Apple Pay’s mobile payment system adds tokenization, which replaces sensitive account numbers with a secure token, and fingerprint biometrics. Apple has heavily emphasized its security in its marketing of Apple Pay.

While Apple is making the most of the added security of EMV, it is rarely mentioned in discussions of the new payment interface. At the same time, retailers are quite aware of the risks of a data breach and are implementing measures such as EMV (with or without Apple Pay) in order to protect consumers — and their reputations. Interest in tokenization as a way to replace card numbers has risen as well in the past year, as merchants and financial institutions try to stay one step ahead of cyber criminals.

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