One Apple's of biggest bets may have been too optimistic

Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of Internet Software and Service, introducing Apple Pay during an Apple event at the Flint Center in Cupertino.

In a January earnings call with investors, Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook made a confident prediction: "2015 will be the year of Apple Pay," he said.
Since then, the company has aggressively courted retailers — and claimed significant success. "We've spoken to all of the top 100 merchants in the US, and about half will accept Apple Pay this year, with many more the following year," a company representative recently told Reuters.
But interviews with analysts, merchants and others suggest that Apple's forecast may be too optimistic and that many retailers remain skeptical about the payment system.
The service is one of Apple's biggest bets, a chance to tie customers more tightly to its phones and its new smartwatch, as well as to take a tiny bite from every retail transaction.
To assess Apple's progress, Reuters worked from the National Retail Federation's list of the top 100 US retailers, surveying the 98 that had brick-and-mortar outlets (two of the top 100 sell only online). Eighty-five supplied detailed responses, and 11 others supplied information only about whether they accept Apple Pay. Two did not respond.
While some of the country's top merchants said they used and liked the mobile payment system, fewer than a quarter of the retailers said they accepted Apple Pay, and nearly two-thirds of the chains said categorically they would not be accepting it this year. Only four companies said they had plans to join the program in the next year.
The top reasons retailers cited for not accepting Apple Pay were insufficient customer demand, a lack of access to data generated in Apple Pay transactions and the cost of technology to facilitate the payments. Some merchants said they were holding out because they planned to participate in a new mobile payment system to be launched by a coalition of retailers later this year.
Apple

A small but growing market

Reliable statistics on mobile-wallet payments are difficult to obtain. Neither the companies offering payment systems nor credit-card issuers will disclose detailed data about usage. But analysts agree that they are used for only a tiny percentage of US retail transactions.
An online survey conducted by Verifone and Wakefield Research released in January 2015 found that mobile wallets accounted for about 4% of the overall payments market for in-store retail transactions in the US.
How that market is divided up among the major players is not entirely clear. An ITG Investment Research study conducted in November, soon after Apple Pay was launched, found that the service accounted for 1% of digital payment dollars, while Google Wallet accounted for 4%.
BI Intelligence
Since then, analysts agree, Apple Pay's market share has grown dramatically. "In the last six months or so there has been more acceptance of Apple Pay," said Steve Weinstein, senior internet analyst for ITG. "Google Wallet has kind of stalled out."
In January, Apple's Cook, citing internal data, said Apple Pay accounted for two out of three dollars spent in "contactless payments," but the company did not provide data to back up those numbers.
Still, it is clear Apple Pay has made considerable progress in signing up vendors, with more than 700,000 sites as of March 9, the last time Apple updated its numbers, including self-service terminals such as vending machines, laundromats, and parking meters.
Interviews with retailers suggest the company has relied on aggressive marketing to recruit participants. "They have been pushing hard, and it's been that way for months," said the representative of one large retailer that has no plans to accept Apple Pay. "They have called and tried to persuade us even after we communicated our decision to them." The company hasn't adopted Apple Pay, he said, because not even a "small percentage" of its customers have asked for it.
REUTERS/Kevin LamarqueApple CEO Tim Cook.

Speed, convenience, and security

Many companies that accept Apple Pay report that they and their customers are happy with it. Whole Foods spokesman Michael Silverman said Apple Pay transactions accounted for 2% of the company's sales dollars as of March and that it expected use to rise.
"Our shoppers are really enjoying the speed, convenience, and security of Apple Pay," he said.
But for other retailers and consumers, Apple has yet to answer the question "what is in it for us if we use Apple Pay?" said Alberto Jimenez, program director for mobile payments at IBM, which provides technology to mobile-wallet makers and retailers. Jimenez would not say whether Apple is among the company's customers.
The program doesn't offer loyalty rewards to customers, as companies such as Starbucks do with their mobile applications, nor does it provide customer information to retailers about Apple Pay users.
For 28 of the retailers surveyed by Reuters, lack of access to data about customers and their buying habits is a key reason they don't accept Apple Pay. "One of the biggest concerns is data control," said Mario De Armas, senior director, international payments at the world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
Flickr / Walmart
When a credit card is swiped through a terminal, the retailer gets the name and card number, which when combined with publicly available demographic data including address, phone, and email, helps retail chains send well-targeted promotions to customers.
Wal-Mart and 18 of the other top retailers are part of a coalition challenging Apple Pay with a mobile wallet called CurrentC, which is scheduled to launch in mid-2015.
Retailers participating in CurrentC won't be allowed to accept any other mobile wallet until 2016, according to a senior official at MCX, the company launching CurrentC. For that reason alone, 19 of the NRF's top 100 retailers will not be able to accept Apple Pay before the end of the year, although three of them said they planned to accept Apple Pay by early 2016.
Another reason cited for not accepting Apple Pay by retailers surveyed by Reuters was the cost of terminals and computer upgrades required to accept a mobile wallet.
"What is the return on investment?" asked Maureen Elworthy, director of treasury at Ahold USA, which runs supermarket chains like Stop&Shop, during a panel discussing Apple Pay at an industry conference. "The [return] is negative," she said.
Apple
She told Reuters that Ahold USA did not plan to accept any wallets because it saw it as an investment cost without immediate returns.
The cost to merchants of accepting a mobile wallet is highly variable depending on what technology they already have in place.
Retailers face an October deadline to upgrade their credit-card terminals to accept cards with microchips, and the new terminals will typically also support contactless payments such as Apple Pay.
But mobile payments also require back-end systems that can be costly, especially for a large retail chain accepting multiple types of mobile-payment systems, said Rick Dakin, CEO of Coalfire, a security systems and IT infrastructure firm.
Apple declined to comment on the cost to retailers of accepting Apple Pay but referred Reuters to Ian Drysdale, executive vice president at the payment processor Elavon, which works with Apple.

Drysdale downplayed the cost issue.
"As long as the retailer is upgrading to the new payment terminals, which are enabled with contactless payment technology, there is very little additional cost to accept Apple Pay," he said.
Ultimately the success of Apple Pay may rest with iPhone users like Scott Braeckel, an iPhone 6 owner who has used Apple Pay — but only once.
Braeckel said he liked the Apple Pay experience, but he generally pays with a credit card, even at places like McDonald's, which accepts the mobile wallet.
A survey released in March by the shopper insight firm InfoScout and PYMNTS.com of more than 1,000 iPhone 6 users found that while 15% of them had tried the payment system, only 6% said they continued to use it.
"It was an interesting curiosity but hasn't moved into daily use for me because frankly, I don't really shop at places it's taken," Braeckel said. "The places I mostly shop, which are my grocery store and pharmacy, don't accept it."

How You’ll Buy a Big Mac With Your iPhone at a McDonald’s Drive-Through

McDonald’s was one of Apple’s big-name partners when the iPhone maker announced the launch of its mobile payments system, Apple Pay, earlier this week.
But when Apple said the partnership would allow McDonald’s customers to pay with their iPhones at the drive-through, I was a bit stumped about how that would happen in a way that actually made things easier.
Would a payment terminal that accepts tap-to-pay purchases be affixed to the wall next to every McDonald’s drive-up window? Would drivers have to get out of their cars?

McDonald’s Atif Rafiq

In an interview last week, McDonald’s Chief Digital Officer Atif Rafiq helped clear things up a bit. He talked in generalities for a bit, about how McDonald’s strived to make the experience “seamless.” When I pressed Rafiq for specifics, he mentioned something about a “pedestal” being extended out to the driver, but I still didn’t quite grasp it, so I asked for a photo (seen above).
Customers who want to use their new iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus to pay will have to tell the drive-through cashier that they are paying with their phone. The cashier will then extend a portable payment terminal out toward the driver’s-side window. The driver then can place their finger on the phone’s fingerprint ID sensor, and tap or wave their phone in front of the payment device just outside their window.
Will people prefer paying that way to handing over cash or credit? That may depend on how prepared the window attendants are, and whether they can keep the “fast” in “fast food.”
Accepting Apple Pay is just one step in a series of digital enhancements coming to McDonald’s locations, according to Rafiq. The company will place an Apple Pay button on a forthcoming app, Rafiq said, though he declined to reveal specifics of what the app will do. Since payments will be involved, it could be an order-ahead app, like the one the company is currently testing at select locations in Alabama and Georgia.
At the same time, the partnership is as much a bet on mobile payments becoming mainstream overall as it is on Apple specifically.
“I’m more likely to have a smartphone in my pocket than my wallet, and I don’t think I could have said that three years ago,” Rafiq said. “It’s a moment in time with one particular player that we think can really catalyze the marketplace.”
“We’re certainly very optimistic and bullish on Apple’s prospects,” he added, “but not exclusively.”

Can Indonesia provide an island for the Rohingya refugees?

With 17.000 islands - of which around 6,000 are uninhabited - could Indonesia provide an island for the Rohingya refugees?

JAKARTA: Rohingya refugees from Myanmar and Bangladesh continue to land in North Aceh, and the Indonesian government is working to find a solution for these refugees. Until now, there has not been any commitment from Myanmar to take responsibility for the plight of these migrants.
Can Indonesia provide an island for the Rohingya refugees? International relations expert from the Institute of Social and Political Sciences in Jakarta, Zein Latuconsina  on Tuesday (May 19) said Indonesia can accommodate the Rohingya refugees stranded in Aceh.
“There are thousands of islands that are uninhabited across the archipelago that can be used to accommodate the Rohingya refugees,” said Mr Zein. “Indonesia can play an active role and give help just like in the past, when it sheltered Vietnamese refugees in the Riau islands.”
Of the more than 17,000 islands in the Indonesian archipelago, around 6,000 are uninhabited.
However, in the case of the Rohingya refugees, it will depend on the wisdom of the government to resolve the issue. “Actually, this is an opportunity for Indonesia to prove to the international community that it can tackle the Rohingya problem,” said Mr Zein.
He added that Indonesia can offer help to this humanitarian crisis, because Malaysia and Vietnam will not accommodate the refugees.
“After that, ASEAN members can consolidate and respond to the humanitarian problem,” said Mr Zein. “ASEAN countries' wish to discuss the humanitarian disaster has already been rejected by the Myanmar government. This shows there isn’t any good faith from Myanmar.”
He added: “ASEAN needs to take a strong position and respond to Myanmar’s refusal; the international community too has to get involved and investigate if this can be categorised as ethnic cleansing.”

  Rohingya migrant recounts escape to India
Mohammad Kareem, from Myanmar's Rakhine state, wants to trace his family and bring everyone to a place of safety.
Sitting in a small clearing in the cramped refugee camp he calls home, Mohammad Kareem cuts a stark figure.
His eyes are intense, flickering with a quiet rage, and his body language forlorn. Mohammad incessantly chews on betel nut, almost as if to distract himself from the horrors he's trying hard to forget.
Removed from all the chatter around him, Mohammad is a lonely figure in the middle of a lively camp where neighbours mill about outside their darkened tarpaulin homes and conversation serves as comfort.
But I soon realise why Mohammad appears tuned out. He's new here. New to this camp, new to the city of Hyderabad, new to India - and new to the harsh reality of being separated from his wife, daughter, mother and sister.
Mohammad says he is 32 years old and that he is from Rakhine state in Myanmar.
He arrived in Hyderabad three days ago, he says, and headed straight to this place, known to Rohingya migrants in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad as "camp one", in Balapur.

This is a place where many in the community seek to reboot their lives, starting with freeing themselves from the constant fear of persecution they feel back home.

"They come and burn our houses and our mosques, torture and kill us to drive us away," says Mohammad Kareem [Neha Tara Mehta/Al Jazeera]

Mohammad's story is hard to follow. Our conversation is punctuated with translations in Rohingya language, Hindi and English.
Here is his account: "The Buddhists don't want Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. They tell us that we don't belong to Myanmar.
"They say we belong to Bangladesh, India, Malaysia ... anywhere but Myanmar. They tell us we need to go away. They come and burn our houses and our mosques, torture and kill us to drive us away.
"We can't continue living in a land where we have no peace and no hope for justice. That's why we risk our lives to get out of the country.
"The way out of Myanmar is a long and dangerous one. Many can't make it. Those who try and cross over to countries like Malaysia, Japan and Thailand by boat often sink or get caught and are thrown into prison."
That's why I decided to escape with my family to India.
I had heard that the people of India were welcoming to people like us.
I knew there were other Rohingya Muslims who were living here, as some of my relatives managed to find a home here when they escaped Myanmar.

I thought my family would be safe as well if we came here.
So I left home with my wife and nine-month-old daughter under the cover of darkness.
Our first stop was Chittagong in Bangladesh. Some locals there helped us cross the border into India and we arrived in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal.
But just then, things went very wrong for us.
The authorities took away my wife and daughter. I somehow managed to escape. I don't know where they are anymore. My mother and sister too are still stuck in Myanmar.

I just don't know what to do to trace my family and bring everyone to a place of safety."

US urges Myanmar to treat Rohingya as citizens
Recognition of ethnic minority would help solve root cause of the migrant crisis in Southeast Asia, US officials say.
The United States has called on Myanmar's government to treat minority Rohingya Muslims as citizens to solve the root cause of the migrant crisis in Southeast Asia.
On Wednesday, US Assistant Secretary of State Anne Richard also urged all of Myanmar's leaders to speak up on human rights issues.
Richard's comments reflect those of US President Barack Obama, who said the Rohingya - who have lived in Myanmar for generations - are "as much citizens of Burma as anyone else", referring to the country by its former name.

Analysis: Myanmar's attitude to the Rohingya

Politicians in Myanmar were focused on a historic general election scheduled for November, Richard said, which was hindering political discussion of the status of the Rohingya.
Opposition leader and Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has faced international criticism for failing to speak out on behalf of the nation's many ethnic groups, including the Rohingya.
"We would love to see all Burmese leaders speak up on human rights and to realise that they should help the Rohingya," she said. "The boats are not going to wait until December - the people on the boats need help right now."
Richard said that, on a previous visit to Rakhine state, she found "one of the most oppressive atmospheres I've ever travelled in".
Her comments came as Myanmar's navy escorted a boat crammed with 727 abandoned migrants to the town of Maung-daw in western Rakhine state. Navy commanders have said that they will not take any further action until all the migrants are identified.
Myanmar landed the boat on Wednesday after keeping the vessel at sea for days, Reuters news agency reported.
Al Jazeera's Florence Looi, reporting from Yangon, said that Maung-daw is located very close to the Bangladesh border.
"The Rakhine state spokesperson said that these people will be given food, water and whatever else they need," Looi reported.
"There's a whole lack of transparency surrounding how this matter has been handled, and it also seems to suggest an eagerness by the Myanmar government to portray these people - at least the ones found in Myanmar territory - as being economic migrants from Bangladesh," she added.
Thousands rescued
Many of the more than 4,000 migrants who have landed in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Myanmar over the past two months are members of the Rohingya ethnic minority who say they are escaping persecution in Myanmar.
Myanmar does not recognise its 1.1 million-strong Rohingya minority as citizens, rendering them effectively stateless. Many have fled the apartheid-like conditions of the country's Rakhine state. Myanmar denies it discriminates against them.
Images of desperate people crammed aboard overloaded boats with little food or water has focused international attention on the region's latest migrant crisis, which blew up last month after a Thai crackdown made it too risky for people smugglers to land their human cargo, who were instead abandoned at sea.
Sang ilham News

Fifa corruption

 Documents show details of Jack Warner 'bribes'

sangilhamnews-investigation has seen evidence that details what happened to the $10m sent from Fifa to accounts controlled by former vice-president Jack Warner.

The money, sent on behalf of South Africa, was meant to be used for its Caribbean diaspora legacy programme.
But documents suggest Mr Warner used the payment for cash withdrawals, personal loans and to launder money.
The 72-year-old, who has been indicted by the US FBI for corruption, denies all claims of wrongdoing.
Fifa says it is co-operating with the investigation.
And South Africa's Football Association has issued a detailed statement denying any wrongdoing.
The papers seen by the BBC detail three wire transfers by Fifa.
In the three transactions - on 4 January, 1 February and 10 March 2008 - funds totalling $10m (£6.5m) from Fifa accounts were received into Concacaf accounts controlled by Jack Warner.
At the time, he was in charge of the body, which governs football in North and Central America and the Caribbean.

Personal payouts

The money had been promised by South Africa's Football Association for its so-called diaspora legacy programme to develop football in the Caribbean.

The documents detail exactly how and when the money was transferred

The documents reveal how the money was spent and moved around.
JTA Supermarkets, a large chain in Trinidad, received $4,860,000 from the accounts.
The money was paid in instalments from January 2008 to March 2009. The largest payment was $1,350,000 paid in February 2008.
US prosecutors say the money was mostly paid back to Mr Warner in local currency.

Huge sums of money were used to pay off credit cards and personal loans

Jack Warner: The US charge sheet

• Accused of racketeering, wire fraud, money laundering, bribery
• From the early 1990s, he allegedly "began to leverage his influence and exploit his official positions for personal gain"
• Allegedly accepted a $10m bribe from South African officials in return for voting to award them the 2010 World Cup
• Allegedly bribed officials with envelopes each containing $40,000 in cash; when one demurred, he allegedly said: "There are some people here who think they are more pious than thou. If you're pious, open a church, friends. Our business is our business"

Key questions answered
Jack Warner: Controversial ex-Fifa chief
Who are the indicted officials?
Fifa in crisis - Special Reports

The BBC gave details of its investigation to Brent Sancho, Trinidad and Tobago's sports minister and a former footballer.
He said: "He [Mr Warner] must face justice, he must answer all of these questions. Justice has to be served.
"He will have to account, with this investigation, he will have to answer for his actions."
The documents also show $360,000 of the Fifa money was withdrawn by people connected to Mr Warner.

A Trinidad supermarket received almost $5m

Nearly $1.6m was used to pay the former Fifa vice-president's credit cards and personal loans.
The documents show the largest personal loan Mr Warner provided for himself was $410,000.
The largest credit card payment was $87,000.
Mr Sancho says he is now angry and disappointed.
"I'm devastated because a lot of that money should have been back in football, back in the development of children playing the sport.
"It is a travesty. Mr Warner should answer the questions," he added.

'The gloves are off'

Jack Warner is one of 14 people charged by US prosecutors over alleged corruption at Fifa.
The US Justice department alleges the 14 accepted bribes and kickbacks estimated at more than $150m (£97m) over a 24-year period.
Mr Warner denies all charges of corruption.

Fifa scandal: Is the long arm of US law now overreaching?

It is probably premature to start talking about Wembley being rebranded as the Loretta E Lynch stadium - with perhaps a James Comey stand, named after the FBI chief - but surely it's on the cards.

After all has anyone delighted English soccer fans more than the US Attorney General and the FBI head?
There was almost a visceral thrill and delight among those who have come to loathe and detest FIFA, that finally someone was taking it on.
The world's most powerful law enforcement agency versus the seemingly untouchable and omnipotent world sports body. That's a match up that any fan would pay top dollar to watch. At last, Fifa would get its comeuppance.
We still have no definitive answer to the question - what changed Sepp Blatter's mind between winning re-election on Friday and standing down on Tuesday?
But it's pretty clear what the evidence points to. Was it the brilliant journalism from both the Sunday Times and the BBC that had made him blink? Sadly, no.

Was it the threat of the sponsors pulling out their cash? Well I read all the statements from the various global corporations as they were released last week - and frankly, they had all the resolve of a sweaty, clammy, limp handshake. "We believe in integrity and hope Fifa will act in alignment with our core values." Oh how they must have quaked and quivered at Fifa HQ when they read those pusillanimous missives.
What about the threat of a boycott of the next World Cup from the UEFA nations? Really - are you kidding me? Was that ever going to happen? No. So if you discount those, that means the only credible explanation is the FBI investigation - arrests had been made, the investigation was going to be widened - and under that sort of relentless pressure, Blatter folded.
There is a great little vignette in the Chuck Blazer court papers. He is the ex-Fifa executive committee member who has pleaded guilty to corruption and cut a deal with the FBI to carry a wiretap to implicate others. At one point in the hearing there is a discussion in court about how to pronounce "Fifa".
It is an organisation of which there is scant knowledge in the US. This is a story that across Europe and much of the rest of the world is leading the news every night. In the US it is not even in the television headlines - despite the whole process being driven by the FBI.
And that is important. It would be lovely to think that in the separation of powers that is one of the distinguishing features of liberal democracies, the judicial system operates entirely independently of the executive. But does it? Remember the start of Charles Dickens' Bleak House - with the thick impenetrable fog enveloping everything: "And hard by Temple Bar, in Lincoln's Inn Hall, at the very heart of the fog, sits the Lord High Chancellor in his High Court of Chancery."

US fans can cheer their prosecutors as well as their team

There is always a murky political consideration of what gets investigated and how. Just take the phone hacking investigation in the UK. In one political climate the prosecuting authorities decided not to go after one of the world's most powerful media organisations - and then a few years later did. The laws hadn't changed, just a change in the desire to implement them. If the FBI had uncovered corruption, say, at the National Basketball Association in the US there would have been all manner of political considerations to weigh. Who were the key figures, what were their political connections, who else might get caught up in the inquiry, is every duck lined up in a row.
I suspect with this inquiry there were NO political considerations. Virtually everyone is foreign, so we can go for it with gusto. No holds barred.
So three cheers for the FBI, its very long reach and US justice? Well, up to a point. That was how I felt last week. But there's another side to this, perhaps in my mind sparked by the news on Wednesday that the FBI's investigation has widened to include the award of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar.
Some of the charges relate to alleged crimes in the US, but there are massive implications to what my legal friends would call ETJ - Extraterritorial Jurisdiction. I'm not a lawyer but it seems to me to be the right of the US to poke its nose into anyone's affairs anywhere in the world. So let's take a hypothetical British company that has a business arm in America, it is then subject to the terms of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. And let's say this British company in London pays a sweetener to some company in Bulgaria to get a factory opened in Sofia - it has broken US law and the FBI can come knocking at the door.

Blatter quit, eventually

Take the case of BNP Paribas, the biggest of the French banks. Last year it was fined $8.9bn by the US justice department for breaching American sanctions against Sudan, Iran and Cuba. Yes, American sanctions (there are no French sanctions). The fine was so great, and the penalties so damaging that President Hollande pleaded with President Obama directly to intervene. I know the banks are hardly cause celebres for the downtrodden and exploited - but why isn't this a matter for the French judicial authorities, and the French authorities alone? There are many other examples.
Barack Obama's presidency has been marked by his determination to pull US troops out of foreign conflicts, to admit past mistakes and to say it is not for us to pick and choose which world leaders we like. But is America creating a new legal imperialism?
Let us just imagine for a minute that instead of Qatar having won the 2022 bid, it had been the US. How would America respond if Russia announced it was to investigate how the World Cup was awarded to the US?
Maybe old Vladimir Putin had a point when he said after the FIFA arrests last week - what business is this of America?