Urban Airship becomes first mobile wallet provider to offer single-tap loyalty rewards with Apple Pay

Mobile engagement provider Urban Airship took another step last week toward making the mobile wallet into a full-fledged marketing channel, by offering a service where loyalty cards can be updated via a single tap with Apple Pay.

The Portland, Oregon-based company says it is the first wallet provider to offer this capability, although some brands, such as Walgreens, had offered it in one-off implementations.

Previously, Director of Product Marketing Judy Chan told me, a user might have a loyalty card on a smartphone barcode-scanned at the cash register when paying. To join, the user might have filled out a paper form, or entered information letter-by-letter into a form on the screen.

Now, her company’s Urban Airship Reach service — which helps brands with loyalty passes, concert tickets and boarding passes for Apple Wallet and Android Pay — is supporting the value-added services industry protocol in Apple Pay.

This allows loyalty information to be sent across Apple Pay with the same tap as payment. The loyalty actions are also offered when the user employs Apple Pay on the web or through an app.

[Read the full article on MarTech Today.]

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About The Author

Barry Levine covers marketing technology for Third Door Media. Previously, he covered this space as a Senior Writer for VentureBeat, and he has written about these and other tech subjects for such publications as CMSWire and NewsFactor. He founded and led the web site/unit at PBS station Thirteen/WNET; worked as an online Senior Producer/writer for Viacom; created a successful interactive game, PLAY IT BY EAR: The First CD Game; founded and led an independent film showcase, CENTER SCREEN, based at Harvard and M.I.T.; and served over five years as a consultant to the M.I.T. Media Lab. You can find him at LinkedIn, and on Twitter at xBarryLevine.

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