Dive Brief:

• American Express Thursday announced an online checkout that, much like PayPal, allows users to employ passwords rather than swiping a card or using card numbers to make purchases. MasterCard’s PayPass and Visa Checkout are similar services that have been available for a couple of years.

• Payment information can be entered ahead of time so that it fills in automatically at time of purchase. Like Apple Pay, the system uses digital “tokens” to scramble the user’s identification at time of purchase.

• Brands that are set up to accept the new system include Burberry Group Plc, 1-800-Flowers, Hulu, and Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc. The option is only available to AmEx cardholders. 

Dive Insight:

Security is up there among consumers’ top concerns about payments, but convenience still beats security when it comes to checking out. 

PayPal has dominated web payments so far as the convenient option, and has proven itself as both a easy and so far a secure way to pay for things, at least on the web. For mobile payments, Apple Pay so far is out in front, but only about a quarter of the nation’s top retailers accept Apple Pay so far, and a majority of retailers don’t plan to add it this year.

And that’s far short of the expectations set by Apple CEO Tim Cook.