It really looks like Apple is getting into the mobile payments game. Last week, it was reported that Apple was working on a mobile payments system and earlier this month, Apple was awarded a patent that detailed a method for sending secure payments over Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Low Energy, or NFC. Also late last year, Apple began deploying iBeacons in its own retail stores, a move that many saw as a stepping stone to mobile payments in its own stores.
Apple may finally appear serious about facilitating the purchase of physical products in retail stores through its devices — and that has gotten the attention of at least one potential major competitor. Three payments industry executives tell Re/code that eBay-owned PayPal has been pitching Apple on helping the consumer electronics maker bring its long-rumored payments initiative to fruition. These people, who have spoken to contacts at both Apple and PayPal, say that PayPal is essentially willing to white-label parts of its payment service to be used in an Apple mobile payments system — anything from fraud detection to back-end infrastructure, even possibly down to the processing of payments.