3 Things to Know About Apple Pay Ahead of Rumored Launch Date

Apple Pay, the smartphone service that aims to replace those fussy old wallets with a one-tap payment system, may launch on Saturday, according to a leaked memo that appears to prep Walgreens store managers for the launch date.

A screenshot of the internal memo was posted to the website MacRumors on Saturday, raising a few questions:

Is this just a rumor?

For now, definitely. But there are a number of reasons to take this bit of information seriously. First, the memo is reportedly addressed to Walgreens “store managers,” which makes sense given that Walgreens is one of several major retail chains set to participate in the system’s launch.

Apple has already acknowledged the system will launch in October. While it has not specified the exact release date, the company does have an event scheduled for Thursday, an opportune time to make an announcement. If Thursday passes with no mention of Apple Pay, better to take this report with a few grains of salt.

See Steve Jobs’ Legacy in 16 Photos

1976 Apple I was Apple's first computer, which became obsolete within a year. Today, they are auctioned off as collector's items.

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1977 Apple II was the follow up to the Apple I computer. Apple II proved highly successful and spawned several variations.

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1983 Lisa was Apple's office computer that was the first personal computer to use a graphical user interface. It was a commercial flop, largely because it retailed for a whopping $10,000.

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1991 NeXT Station was a workstation computer manufactured by NeXT, a computer company Steve Jobs founded in 1985 after he was forced out of Apple. After Apple acquired NeXT in 1996, Jobs rejoined Apple.

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1995 Pixar's Toy Story was the film studio's first feature film in 1995. Pixar had spun out from a larger graphics corporation in 1986 with funding from Steve Jobs.

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1998 The iMac was originally released in 1998, and it was the first Mac computer to have a USB drive but no floppy disk. Many media outlets heralded it as a game changer. Over two million were sold in two years.

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1999 The iBook was a line of laptop computers designed for use in schools. The computer, called the "iMac to go," was a huge hit with several upgrades over the years.

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1999 The Power Mac G3 was a personal computer in the Power Macintosh line. Its upgraded hardware meant it was faster than most other computers on the market.

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2001 Apple opened its first Apple Stores in 2001, with the original two stores in Virginia and California. On the opening day, thousands of Apple fans stood in line and collectively spent over half a million dollars.

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2003The iTunes Store is Apple's online digital media store that redefined the music purchase experience and became a runaway success within years. By 2008, it had become the largest music vendor in the U.S.

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2001The iPod followed the release of iTunes and other consumer-facing software. It offered data storage and a sleek design, and soon became the nation's go-to portable music player.

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2006 Macbook Pro was Apple's first computer to use Intel Core processors, replacing PowerBook computers. The Macbook Pro line is Apple's latest laptop collection.

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2005 The Mac Mini was Apple's first consumer-targeted computer to ship without a display, keyboard or mouse, intended to minimize the space taken by a desktop computer.

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2007 The first iPhone was released after years of speculation that Apple would produce a smartphone. It was known for its large touch screen and finger-touch method, as opposed to using a stylus. It was marketed under the slogan "This is only the beginning."

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2008 The App Store is Apple's online marketplace for downloading and developing apps. It was released alongside its iPhone 3G, and both proved to be massive successes. The App Store logged over 10 million downloads on the first weekend.

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2010 The iPad is an Apple tablet computer that met mixed reviews, as users were not sure if it was intended to replace or supplement laptop use, though many praised its ability to connect to WiFi or 3G. That year, the iPad became the leader in the tablet computer market.

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Can I trash my wallet on Oct. 18?

Hang onto it, because the revolution will take time to catch on. Some 220,000 participating stores will be equipped to accept Apple Pay’s smartphone payments on the launch date, including Walgreens, McDonald’s, Duane Reade, Macy’s and Whole Foods. On the other hand there are upwards of nine million merchants in the U.S. that accept credit cards, or roughly 97% of stores that are still only able to accept payments in paper or plastic.

How will it work again?

Anyone who has an iPhone 6 or Apple Watch will be able to make a purchase by swiping the phone past any checkout counter equipped with Near Field Communication, or an NFC chip. A fingerprint will confirm the user’s identity and clear the purchase on a credit card that was preloaded into the system. The Verge created a demo video to show just how frictionless shopping could get.

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