Apple Pay

Apple has launched a new Apple Pay web page with several holiday discounts from participating online retailers. The holiday deals are part of Apple's effort to promote its new Apple Pay on the web feature in iOS 10 and macOS Sierra. iOS and macOS users can take advantage of the holiday deals by visiting a participating retailer's website on Safari and using the Apple Pay feature. Here's a full list of participating retailers and links provided by Apple:

Apple Pay isn't all about waving your iPhone to pay for food at McDonalds. The service can also be used for making in-app and online purchases on devices that have Touch ID but no NFC technology, like the iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3. This is why a recent rumor claiming that both Touch ID and Apple Pay will eventually make their way to other Apple products, like the MacBook Air, is not all that crazy.

The rumor was posted on the Taiwanese blog Apple.club.tw on Tuesday. The report says sources have confirmed that future versions of the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad will ship with built-in Touch ID fingerprint sensors. If true, this would allow Mac users to make online payments, log-in to their accounts and authenticate other actions with a simple touch of their finger. This also doesn't seem like much a stretch since Apple has been trying to add continuity between devices with the launch of Handoff and other features found in iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite.

There seems to be some confusion about Apple Pay now that Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) has released iOS 8.1. The iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3 do support Apple Pay, but they do not support in-store purchases. Only the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and Apple Watch when paired with an iPhone 5 or later can make in-store payments. Neither the iPad Air 2 or iPad mini 3 ship with the Near Field Communication antenna that is required to utilize the Apple Pay readers coming to more than 220,000 retail locations.

iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3 owners will be able to use Apple Pay and Touch ID to make online and in-app purchases when they begin shipping later this week. For example, you will now be able to pay for stuff within an app, like the Apple Store, by just placing your figder on your Touch ID. This eliminates the need to type in your App Store password every time you want to make an in-app purchase.

Developer Hamza Sood claims to have discovered references to a new iPad model with Touch ID and a settings and privacy page for Apple Pay on the iPad in iOS 8 beta 1. Sood posted evidence of his discoveries on Twitter.

The image above shows an "About Apple Pay & Privacy" page found in the Passbook settings that describes what information Apple collects when you sign up for Apple Pay. Sood's second screenshot posted to Twitter shows a string of code that reads: "Pay with iPad using Touch ID". This doesn't mean the next-generation iPad Air will have NFC like the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, it just means users will be able to use Apple Pay and Touch ID on their iPad to make in-app purchases or do online shopping.

Apple just didn't announce its new iPhone models and smartwatch on Tuesday, the company also announced its own mobile wallet called Apple Pay, new iCloud storage pricing and that iOS 8 will launch on September 17th.

Apple Pay will allow iPhone owners to simply tap their device on a payment terminal and use their Touch ID fingerprint sensor as an electronic signature to pay for products at participating retailers such as Starbucks. The advantage of Apple Pay is that no credit card information is stored on Apple's servers and Apple has no interest in tracking your purchases. Merchants will also be blocked from seeing your card numbers and the Find my iPhone feature will allow users to suspend mobile payments if their phone is lost or stolen.