The next logical step for Apple Pay: a loyalty program (from qz.com)

Soon, it may pay to use Apple Pay.

Close financial partners and job postings on Apple’s career page hint that the company is interested in more closely integrating Apple Pay into loyalty programs that reward customers for using the mobile wallet.

Retailers can tie their own loyalty programs into Apple Pay, so that people using the system can rack up points just as they would if paying by cash or a physical credit card. But as of yet, there’s nothing that allows consumers to earn more or different rewards for using Apple Pay specifically.

That could change, though, based on a recent job posting for a product manager sought by Apple Pay to “develop loyalty products and launch projects with merchants for those products.” The job posting specifies that other “key partners” would include “payment terminal vendors, Point-of-Sale providers and customer loyalty solution companies”—in other words, the full suite of companies that make it possible for consumers to earn, store, and spend points tied to loyalty programs.

[Full story on qz.com]