Heads up, all you Apple fanatics anxious to learn more about the Apple Watch: you will be able to buy your beer at a Golden State Warriors game with a pass code or fingerprint touch once the wearable hits the market in April.
Well, obviously, you won't be able to buy beer at a Warriors game in April, but you get the idea and that's what Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of Internet Software and Services, wanted to prove at a demonstration on Saturday, March 7.
The Apple Pay/Watch demo comes just two days before a special event, called Spring Forward, where Apple is expected to unleash lots of insight on Watch, Apple's first-ever smartwatch.
So far, what's known about Watch, from its introduction last September, is that it's a pretty stylish device with a starting price of $349 and will come in three versions. The high-end Edition gold and platinum devices reportedly feature a high-end starting price of $10,000.
During the Warriors game, Cue demoed how Watch wearers can either use a pass code or unlock the Pay app using their iPhone to make a purchase or transaction.
Apple's software boss showed Warriors' President and CEO, Rick Welts, just how simple Apple Pay makes a mobile purchase. The two also announced a new Pay partnership at the Oracle Arena, home of the Warriors.
Apple Watch, like the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, houses a near-field communications chip, but the Watch doesn't boast TouchID. That's why Watch users need to enter a pass code or touch the fingerprint sensor on the iPhone to make a purchase using the Watch.
Users only need to enter the pass code once if they keep wearing the device. Once the Watch comes off, it will relock the app.
"You can [type a password] if you want to, but you won't normally have to," said Cue. "Right now, the Watch is unlocked, and I could do all of it without having to type any code. If I [took it off and] handed it to you, now you'd have to type in a security code or unlock it from your phone."
Apple Watch use will require an iPhone 5, 5c, 5s, 6 or 6 Plus.
"You don't have to authenticate on the phone," said Cue, who sported a stainless steel Apple Watch with a black strap. "Your Watch has to be unlocked and your phone can unlock your Watch and so it knows, if I took my Watch off and gave it to you, it would know. If I wanted to pay right now, I could just pay with the Watch and not have to take the phone out at all or unlock it."
When Apple Pay debuted last fall, it already had 500 financial payment partners on board as well as over 200,000 retailers. One of its biggest partnerships is with the federal government.
