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There is little doubt that the new Apple Watch stole the show during the company’s big event on September 9, but it was the introduction of Apple Pay, its contact-less mobile payment system, that was the most intriguing. For years, the ability to seamlessly pay for goods with your phone has been more fiction than reality, marred by clumsy interfaces and spotty support. With the latest version of its mobile operating system, iOS, Apple AAPL 1.55% was finally throwing its hat into the ring. Could the technology company accomplish what so many others have not?
在苹果公司（Apple）9月9日举行的发布会上，新产品Apple Watch无疑抢尽了风头，但与Apple Pay相比，它只能算是个暖场，苹果的无接触式移动支付系统才是最迷人的新东西。多年以来，由于界面粗糙、支持坑坑洼洼，手机无缝支付始终停留在理论阶段。凭借最新版的iOS手机操作系统，苹果终于正式进军这一市场。这家技术巨头能够实现其他众多公司尚未实现的梦想吗？
Last week, we were finally able to find out when iOS 8.1 hit the airwaves. Apple Pay comes with support from a number of banks, credit card companies, and big-box retailers. The list is exhaustive: Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Wells Fargo, Citi, Capital One, Foot Locker, Walgreens, Macy’s, and McDonald’s each promise to accept the new payment method. Naturally, the first thing I wanted to do was test it out in the real world.
随着iOS 8.1在上周强劲推出，我们终于有机会一探究竟。Apple Pay已经获得美国各大银行、信用卡公司及零售巨头的全面支持，而且个个来头不小：维萨（Visa）、万事达（MasterCard）、美国运通（American Express）、富国银行（Wells Fargo）、花旗（Citi）、第一资本（Capital One）、富乐客（Foot Locker）、沃尔格林（Walgreens）、梅西百货（Macy’s）和麦当劳（McDonald’s）等，均承诺接受新的支付方式。于是很自然地，我脑海里冒出的第一个念头就是去真实体验一把Apple Pay。
Initial setup for Apple Pay is fairly simple. The application asks if you want to use the same payment information used for buying apps in Apple’s App Store and media in iTunes to purchase physical goods. I agreed with a tap of my finger, but chose to add more cards to the service while I was at it. (You can add up to eight accounts.) The process works like so: snap a photo of your card with the iPhone’s camera, then enter a few extra pieces of information to confirm your identity. It was smooth sailing for my American Express card, but my Chase card gave the app trouble, due to its funky sideways layout. So I hand-keyed the information in, like a technophilic caveman, and waited for a verification code to arrive as a text message. Finally, I attempted to add my Simple debit card, but was promptly greeted by a message informing me that the bank didn’t support Apple Pay. Bummer.
Apple Pay的初始设置非常简单。程序会提示你是否愿意在购买实体商品时采用你在苹果App Store和iTunes中使用的支付信息。我按了“同意”，但是决定再添加几张我常用的银行卡（最多可添加八个账号）。具体流程是：使用iPhone相机拍下你的银行卡，然后准确输入相关信息，认证身份。其中，运通银行卡的操作非常顺利，可大通银行卡由于前卫的竖版设计导致程序出错。于是，我不得不原始地手动输入信息，等着接受验证码短信。最后，我试着添加我的Simple借记卡，结果马上收到短信，提示说银行不支持Apple Pay。郁闷。
It took me less than five minutes to set up Apple Pay. Then I set out to test it in my Colorado town. My first stop was at a local restaurant where I frequently dine. After eating a meal and receiving the bill, I asked, “Do you accept Apple Pay?” The clerk, unsure of herself, responded with hesitation: “Um, we use iPads and can swipe your card.” Fair enough, I thought, this is the first day of living in a post-wallet world. I handed over my plastic debit card.
我花了不到5分钟就设置好了Apple Pay，然后起身出发，准备在这个科罗拉多的小镇进行一番实地测试。我的第一站是自己经常光顾的一家本地餐馆。吃完饭结账时，我问：“可以用Apple Pay付款吗？”那位女服务员一头雾水，犹犹豫豫地说：“哦，我们使用iPad，可以刷你的银行卡。”好吧，我想，这毕竟是我进入“后钱包时代”的第一天。然后我递上我的借记卡付了账。
On the way home I stopped to get gas. After refueling my car, I held up my iPhone to the payment terminal, finger firmly placed over the Touch ID sensor. I waited for something to happen. My efforts were futile. I inserted my debit card.
在回家的路上，我停下来加油。加好油后，我对着付款终端举起iPhone手机，手指紧紧按住Touch ID指纹识别感应器。我满心期待着会出现什么。结果什么也没有。我只得再插入我的借记卡。
The next day I made a stop at Panera Bread, the national fast casual food chain, where it is widely advertised that Apple Pay is accepted. I walked into the store and noticed three cash registers affixed with signs stating that they were contact-less payment ready. Jackpot! Waiting in line, I rehearsed in my head how the transaction play out. Do I tell the clerk what I’m doing? Or do I just just hold my phone over the signature pad (which doubles as a reader of near-field communications technology, the tech at work with Apple Pay) as if this is something I’ve done my entire life? Will the future always be the source of so much anxiety?
第二天，我在快餐连锁店Panera Bread就餐，发现该公司在大肆宣传可接受Apple Pay付款。我走进店里，看见三台收银机贴上了接受无接触式付款的标志，不禁心里欢腾了一下！排队的时候，我不停在脑海里演练着如何操作。我需不需要跟收银员提前打个招呼？还是说装作很熟练地直接把手机放在签名板上（它同时可用作Apple Pay近场通讯技术的阅读器）？以后买单的时候，我还会这么紧张吗？
It came time for me to pay. I held my phone above the signature pad and watched as my iPhone’s screen flashed with a picture of my card and then went black. That was it. I had just made my first payment with Apple Pay and it happened so fast I didn’t even have time to have one of my rehearsed conversations with the clerk. If nothing else, paying with my iPhone was too easy. My amazement was interrupted as I was handed a paper receipt to place in my wallet.
终于轮到我了。我把手机举到签名板上面，看到iPhone的屏幕闪出了我的银行卡图片，然后又变黑了。完事了。我刚刚用Apple Pay进行了人生中的“处女付”，结果一切发生太快，我都没来得及对收银员说出我排练了很久的台词。总而言之，用iPhone付款太简单了。直到收到小票，放回钱包，我才如梦初醒。
I tried to use Apple Pay at every point of purchase for the rest of the week. Living outside of a major metropolitan area, I’ve grown accustomed to local businesses being behind the technological curve. I hoped Apple Pay would be different. Alas, that’s not the case. Two weeks later, my local businesses are no closer to embracing the future as they had been.
于是，这周我试着在所有买单的场合用Apple Pay付款。由于住在远离大都市的偏远小镇，我已经习惯了当地的商户总是在技术上落后半拍。我曾经希望Apple Pay是一个例外。可惜，结果却并非如我所愿。两周后，我们当地的商户还是没有半点动静，就和以前一样。
The shift to mobile payments isn’t something that’s going to happen overnight, of course. It won’t even happen over the course of a few months. Apple Pay has arguably made a bigger splash its predecessors, but there’s more work to be done across the entire field. The fact that retailers are disabling NFC readers at the checkout stand—which renders Apple Pay useless—speaks volumes when you consider Google Wallet has been around for a few years and those same retailers never batted an eye at customers using it. On the one hand, Apple Pay seems to be breaking through. On the other, retailers are creating new roadblocks for consumers who want to pay using digital means.
当然，我们不能奢望移动支付一夜间普及，甚至未来几个月都可能实现不了这一点。Apple Pay的问世也许比它的前辈们更轰动一时，但整个行业还有很长的路要走。一些零售商在结账台禁用近场通讯阅读器，使得Apple Pay无法发挥作用，这种做法颇值得玩味。谷歌钱包（Google Wallet）几年前就已问世，而这些零售商也一直无动于衷。Apple Pay似乎正在取得突破，但另一方面，零售商们正在为那些希望用数字渠道支付的消费者设置新的障碍。
The only other transaction I was able to use Apple Pay for, by the way, was at McDonald’s. I took my kids out for some ice cream. Neither the clerk nor my kids cared how I paid for the tasty treat. Perhaps neither should I—and perhaps that’s the point.
顺便提一下，我仅有的两笔Apple Pay支付记录中的另一笔是在麦当劳。我带着孩子们去买冰激凌，收银员和孩子们都没在意我是怎么付款的，或许连我自己也不应当（对怎么付款）大惊小怪—— 又或，这才是问题所在。
