Target's CEO, Brian Cornell, says that the company plans to offer in-store support for Apple Pay eventually.
Speaking at Code Conference today, Target CEO Brian Cornell said that the company plans to eventually support Apple Pay in stores, but his main focus right now is adding support for chip-and-PIN cards.
From Re/Code:
"Our focus is on getting chip-and-PIN in place in time for the holidays," Cornell said at the second annual Code Conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. "Down the line we want to accept all the types of payments that our guests want. But this decision was all about focus. … It is a major undertaking to convert to chip-and-PIN, and I decided that we can't distract the team."
"I'd love to have Apple Pay today," he said. "Once we finish, we'll be open-minded" about supporting other payment systems.
Cornell's focus on adding support for chip-and-PIN cards, which are considered to be more secure than traditional credit cards, before considering Apple Pay is likely due to the major credit card hack that the company suffered in 2013. Still, one could make the argument that supporting Apple Pay, with its tokenized transactions, should be a priority as well.
Target already supports Apple's mobile payments platform through its iOS app, but has lagged behind other retailers in adopting support in its stores.
Source: Re/Code