Apple Pay Is Now Accepted At Millions Of Stores

Shoppers can use Apple’s mobile-payment service, Apple Pay, at more than 2 million retail stores, highlighting its growing acceptance by merchants as an alternative to cash and credit card swiping. Apple, which released the new adoption numbers on Thursday, also said that Crate & Barrel, Chick-fil-A, and Au Bon Pain would soon accept the mobile payments service. Introduced in 2014, Apple Pay lets users upload credit and debit card information to a “mobile wallet.” Customers can then use their iPhone or Apple Watch to pay at retail stores that have point-of-sale registers equipped with near field communication technology, known as NFC. People can also use their Apple Pay accounts to pay for items within apps if the app developer has integrated the service. The service is currently available in the U.S., U.K., Canada, and Australia, and is expected to expand to China this year. Read more at Fortune.