Whole Foods Market, Inc. (WFM): Freshly Discovered Family in Apple Inc. (AAPL) Ecosystem

We’ve digested a lot of information about Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s intentions and decisions. There have been many unexpected turns of events around the main course of action and there’s still room for other surprises. The CEO of Whole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:WFM), Walter Robb, announced on CNBC that his company will be accepting Apple Pay.

 This might not seem big, but Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has already 220,000 merchant locations across the US, which accept mobile payments from iPhone 6 or Apple Watch, and finally got another major contract with a supermarket company. So, if it continues in the same manner we might get to the point where the most important vendors of products or services will accept Apple Pay. It sounds good to the shareholders, consumers and partner credit card companies, but competitors on different product levels become nervous.

For example, PayPal is hit directly in the figure because it functions as an e-wallet and now people have an Apple-wallet that exercises the same functionality much easier and safer. Credit card businesses lose potential customers among the ones with cards at several providers. With the latest appearance in the Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) ecosystem, it begins to actually look like a different world. One could shop at particular merchants just because he or she can pay faster and easier, and Whole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:WFM) saw an opportunity of differentiating instantaneously at little costs. Even the affinity program does not create any inconveniences.

“We’ll integrate that in with the Apple Pay, so they will all start to work together. We’re starting the pilot in Princeton, New Jersey store this week and as that thing continues to test we hope we’ll be able to integrate these two together,” said Walter Robb.

We’re left to guess as to who follows next in the partner’s list for the new payment system. And from the skeptical perspective, will other companies follow this example?

Disclosure: none