*By Alisha Haridasani*
Apple wants to turn its Pay function into a bigger revenue stream by expanding the use of its cashless payment tool to include a wider range of transactions.
At its annual developers conference this week, Apple announced partnerships with six American universities to incorporate their students' IDs into the Pay and Wallet system.
“When you look at students, if you’ll remember, you use your ID to do so many things ー to get into your dorm room, to go to the library, to pay for your food and your meal plan, to check in to the work out facilities,” Jennifer Bailey, head of Apple Pay, said in an interview with Cheddar’s Hope King. “Now having it in their phones in a secure way, we think students are going to love it.”
Apple Pay also launched a transit payment system in four Chinese cities earlier this year, allowing users to pay for train and bus rides using the Pay tool.
“People love to use it for everyday commuting,” said Bailey. The feature is available in cities in Japan, as well as Moscow, St. Petersburg, London, Chicago, Portland, Ore., and Salt Lake City. There are plans to integrate it with New York’s MTA system.
Apple’s efforts to expand the Pay and Wallet tools are part of its wider strategy to boost its services unit, which includes Pay, Music, and the iCloud. As iPhone sales start to slow, the company's services business become more important.
Revenue from Apple’s services accounted for around 15 percent of revenue in the [second quarter](https://www.apple.com/newsroom/pdfs/Q2_FY18_Data_Summary.pdf), bringing in $9 billion. While Apple doesn’t break down how each unit fares, the CFO Luca Maestri told [Bloomberg](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-01/apple-paid-subscribers-grew-by-100-million-from-year-ago) there are 270 million paid subscribers of its services.
The company is also investing more than [$1 billion](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/25/business/media/apple-hollywood-streaming.html) building out its entertainment unit. Details are sparse, but so far the company has courted the Hollywood stars Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston, Damien Chazelle, and Steven Spielberg for a dozen projects that are slated to be released next year.
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/apple-pay-vp-jennifer-bailey-on-future-of-mobile-payments).
Melissa Gonzalez, CEO and Founder of The Lionesque Group, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where she explains why she feels mixed about the Walmart's new initiative and what will make mass adoption of this offering difficult.
Exercise equipment maker Peloton is attempting to run away from a recent bout of controversy. CEO John Foley published an open letter to employees on Thursday after reports that said Peloton was pausing production of its Bike and Tread products, delaying the opening of a new U.S. factory, and considering job cuts. In the letter, Foley wrote that the information in the reports was 'incomplete,' 'out of context,' and not reflective of Peloton's strategy. Peloton's stock responded on Friday, with shares bouncing back after falling nearly 24% in the regular session on Thursday. CFRA Research's Director of Research Ken Leon joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Home essentials maker Outlines announced its launch at the beginning of 2022, along with $1 million in pre-seed funding led by Social Impact Capital. Outlines says it is re-imagining how we keep our homes clean while also reducing plastic waste. The company's debut product, the Shower Liner System, is made of long-lasting materials, including easy-to-recycle plastic. Outlines co-founder and CEO Luke Young and co-founder and COO Megan Ceryanec joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
eToro, the social trading platform that offers crypto, forex, and equities, recently announced that it's giving U.S. users the option to include stocks and ETFs as part of their investment portfolios. Lule Demmissie, CEO of eToro U.S., joined Cheddar to talk about the company’s expanded offerings. "We felt, although crypto is a fantastic asset class, that individuals benefit from having a broader access to different kinds of investments, and equities is definitely one of them," Demmissie noted.
Coming off of CES, Blink Charging announced a partnership with legacy automaker General Motors to provide charging stations for its newest electric cars. The company specializes in stations they own and operate that also accommodate residential and commercial locations. Michael D. Farkas, founder and CEO, noted that they "don’t discriminate” when it comes to locating their chargers while also taking the philosophy of seeing their hardware more like hot water heaters rather than smartphones constantly in need of upgrading. "We believe it's one of the reasons why we were selected by GM," Farkas said. "These dealerships have to invest in these locations and make sure that this hardware is workable for a very, very long period of time."
Simeon Siegel, managing director and senior analyst at BMO Capital Markets joins Cheddar News to discuss CNBC's report that Peloton plans to halt production, despite the company's CEO denying those claims.
Jackie Rotman, founder and CEO of the Center for Intimacy Justice joins Cheddar News to talk about why Facebook is banning ads by companies targeting women's sexual health but not ads catered to men.
TikTok recently announced that it is testing a paid subscription model. The news comes days after Instagram publicized a similar service. TikTok has made $2.3 billion from in-app purchases, but mostly through tips, in 2021, showing that its users may be open to spending money on the platform.
Netflix beat its earnings projections for Q4 — but the stock still plummeted as the streaming pioneer cut back on its forecast for future subscribers. Michael Robinson, the chief technology strategist at Money Map Press, joined Cheddar to discuss the report and what's driving the downward pressure on its shares. "It's the growth is really what's worrying people," he said. "'A' we have slowing economic growth, and 'B' we've got slowing growth for this company, as 'C' we have an increase in competition."
