I don't see how waving my watch in front of the POS would make this easier, it would actually be more cumbersome depending on how the POS is presented.
https://www.which.co.uk/news/2015/07/which-reveals-contactle...
There is a reason they are not being promoted in major markets.
But the US doesn't seem to have discovered pin numbers.
And judging by other posts for this story, you haven't discovered contactless payments either. They were available long before Apple Pay.
I don't care how hyper-secure Apple Pay is. Cash also has some pretty weak security and people seem to use it just fine, the rare pickpocketing notwithstanding.
From an UX point of view, using something at your fingertips to wave is more natural and it's also clear you are paying for something. Contorting your wrist so the Watch is close to the POS seems almost painful in some situations. Maybe waving the phone close to the POS would be better, but you have to reach for your phone the same way you reach for your card so it's a draw.
The security issue isn't a big deal since (a) payments are limited to small amounts e.g. < $100 and (b) banks will indemnify you against credit card theft.
Their POS software was obviously written by competent people who care about what they're doing. Not by clowns laid off by Barnum & Bailey.
Edit: I did a few minutes of reflection about this, since it's an astonishing claim compared to standard practices. But what's probably happening has to do with membership. A checkout begins with the POS system scanning a membership card. So the system already knows exactly who they are dealing with. Then the chip read can probably do less in terms of the transaction; perhaps the transaction is automatically approved once an initial chip read verifies that the card is present.
Just to be clear, this is using a standard Visa EMV credit card, not a Costco affiliated card.
I really think some messaging to change it from "Please Wait" to "Waiting for cashier" would help the real non-tech-savvy people. My parents almost always have issues with the chip because of this. They'll pull out the card at the wrong time and such.
On the other hand, I don't recall a merchant where I could physically insert my card whenever I wanted, so the A/G Pay option is better in many/most places, even if there are some where you have to wait.
(For example, the Clipper card machine...)
About 20 yeas ago before wide spread use on the internet in the UK they where looking at using the ISDN D channel to do card authentication
Not where I live.
Contactless payment wasn't Apple's innovation, although maybe you could say that popularizing it in the US was.
this seems a limitation on your side (bank?), I've used contactless for larger expenses in other parts of Europe without issues (inserting a PIN).
But yes, I too use Apple Pay whenever possible. I feel like I'm doing my small part to drag the industry forward. (Though my secret hope is that Visa and Mastercard get replaced with something else. Hopefully that's easier to do after their intermediated by Apple Pay)
I can’t believe that the best thing the credit industry could come up with was chip and pin. Slow, insecure[1], and awful experience. Begone, parasites.
1. https://www.kaspersky.com/blog/chip-and-pin-cards-insecure/1...