Category: Featured News

The retail chain has now rolled out their own version of the smartphone based transaction method.

The Kohl’s Pay mobile payments platform has launched, representing the latest in a growing retail trend. Large retailers are, to an increasing degree, stepping into the mobile wallet market. This is creating a market with even greater competition for Android Pay, Apple Pay and Samsung Pay. Those tech giants have all been battling for dominance.

The Kohl’s Pay rollout has added another independent alternative to those wallet options.

The Kohl’s Pay mobile payments platform is available for customers to use within the department stores. This not only allows consumers to pay for their purchases, but it has also been integrated with their rewards and loyalty programs. In this way, the mobile app allows for collection and redemption of the reward and loyalty program benefits. At the same time, it works as a digital wallet for the payment method being used for the purchase itself.

The retailer announced that the Kohl’s Pay Mobile payments service is now available across the country.

Kohl’s Pay’s existence is not a surprise to many as the company had previously announced its intentions to expand its previous mobile wallet. The previous version had allowed consumers to collect rewards and promotions and save their payment data. This latest nationwide move has expanded the features and functions of the mobile payments app.

The new app comes at a time when many other large retailers are taking similar steps with mobile wallets and payments. For example, CVS and Walmart have both recently enhanced their smartphone applications to include comparable changes. These solutions are generating greater appeal among retailers seeking to draw customers who are increasingly comfortable in using smartphones for payments.

Moreover, by implementing their own proprietary mobile wallets, retailers may make themselves into the convenient choice for consumers who prefer this payment method.

What makes the Kohl’s Pay mobile payments platform different is that customers can’t add their credit cards and debit cards to their digital wallet. Instead, the Kohl’s Charge private label card is the only one that can be used in conjunction with the app.

Despite the fact that this wearable technology is designed to function cross-platform, iPhone 7 won’t pair.

The Apple Watch may be designed exclusively for iOS, but Android Wear smartwatches are meant to work regardless of the platform. That said, a growing number of reports have been submitted by consumers saying the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus won’t connect.

Mobile device users are able to pair the gadgets as far as the accept message screen on an iPhone 7.

That said, they seem to be unable to move beyond that point when pairing Android Wear smartwatches. This suggests that there is a failure in the Bluetooth pairing process at one point or another. Google has now released an official list of the specific devices that have been reported to have challenges connecting with iPhone 7 generation smartphones.

Among those on the list currently include the Moto 360 Sport, the Moto 360 2nd Gen, the Asus ZenWatch 2, the Fossil Q Founder and the TAG Heuer Connected. That said, unofficial lists are popping up all over the web which include other Android Wear based gadgets.

It is not yet known why this specific problem is occurring between Android Wear smartwatches and iPhone 7.

Current speculations are that it has to do with the smartphone, itself and not the new iOS 10 operating system. Google is investigating the matter and will soon release a fix for this problem.

It should be noted that while Android Wear based wearable technology devices will pair with iOS, they do so with limited functionality. This is especially true when it comes to the Google Now features. As Google Now is the primary draw to the Android Wear operating system, it does show a reduced appeal for iPhone users to begin with.

As of the writing of this article, Google does not yet know exactly when it will have the fix ready for the Android Wear smartwatches. It is required to determine the source of the issue before it can put together fix that will repair it. The goal is to have it available within the very near future.