Apple Pay gets a rumored ETA, three weeks from now

Alongside its new iPhone and smartwatch hardware launches last month, Apple also introduced users to a new service it was getting ready to kick off, announcing Apple Pay. Intimately tied to the NFC support present on those new iPhones, Apple Pay is set to go active sometime this month, after not being quite ready for prime time when iPhone 6 and 6 Plus sales first began. But now that October’s here, when exactly can we hope to see Apple flip the switch on Apple Pay and welcome iPhone users into the world of mobile payments? According to some sources, we’re a little under three weeks out, with the service’s debut planned for October 20.
That’s according to multiple unnamed sources close to Apple, reports Bank Innovation, which also ties this date to the release of iOS 8.1. The theory that the 8.1 update would be connected to the start of Apple Pay is one we’ve heard before, and seeing the first beta go live just the other day, it’s also one whose timetable seems to be lining up with this new rumor.
Besides Apple Pay and iOS 8.1, could that October 20 date also be related to Apple’s expected launch of new iPad hardware? That’s a solid possibility, but it need not be the day we get the formal announcement; it would make enough sense to hear Apple confirm the iPad Air 2 a few days earlier, with this update arriving at the start of the following week. Maybe it could even go the other way around, with 8.1 landing a day before that rumored October 21 date we’ve heard for the new iPad, though knowing Apple that sounds a lot less likely.
Source: Bank Innovation
Via: Cult of Mac