Apple Pay 'Making Up a Lot of Ground' With Competitors Thanks to Success of Apple Pay Cash

[MacRumors]

A new report out this week by Bloomberg highlights Apple's ongoing efforts to boost adoption of Apple Pay, which is said to be gaining more traction this year thanks to the launch of Apple Pay Cash, as well as a growing number of of retailers supporting the mobile wallet. Although it still struggles to surpass rival mobile wallets, analyst Gene Munster argues that Apple's real advantage lies in the fact that it's the only digital wallet with payment options for mobile apps, desktop, peer-to-peer, and in stores.

According to Munster, Apple Pay Cash's launch in December 2017 "was a big missing piece" to the Apple Pay ecosystem, and has led the company to "make up a lot of ground" with its competition in 2018.

In total, 60 percent of United States merchants will have Apple Pay-ready equipment in their shops by the end of this year, which is an increase from three percent four years ago, when Apple Pay launched. Apple Pay already has made impressive growth in the United Kingdom, because merchants there "already accepted contactless payments and consumers were already using contactless cards," explained Crone Consulting CEO Richard Crone.

Multiple analysts believe that Apple's biggest opportunity in the mobile payments field is to increase acceptance of Apple Pay from e-commerce sites and to beef up the features of Apple Pay Cash. According to data from Crone Consulting, the number of online mobile app transactions using Apple Pay is "growing much faster" than transactions made inside retail stores. In this area, Apple Pay is used by hundreds of thousands of websites and is accepted by 85 of the top 100 global e-commerce apps. Senior managing director for Falcon Point Capital, Michael Mahoney, agreed:

"When it started, you'd tap and physically cause a purchase to be made," Michael Mahoney said. "The whole world of mobile commerce has so much shifted to everything being done on the phone and shipped to you. My kids don't even think of going to the store. Apple Pay has morphed along with that change in behavior."

As of estimates from August, 31 percent of worldwide iPhone users have used Apple Pay in some way in the last year, up from 25 percent one year ago, according to Loup Ventures data. In regards to the total number of active users making at least two transactions per month, Crone Consulting estimates that Apple has 32 million users in the U.S., compared to its total user base of around 252 million global. In terms of U.S. usage, PayPal has the most at 250 million users and Walmart Pay is just below Apple Pay at 31 million users.

Apple Pay Cash was the highest-rated peer-to-peer payments platform on the market, according to a review by Consumer Reports. The service beat out Zelle, Square Cash, Venmo, and Facebook Messenger P2P payments, mainly due to Apple's stronger privacy and security measures. Munster pointed out that the growth of Apple's P2P platform is convincing new people to add their banks into Apple Pay (which is required for P2P iMessage payments), many of which eventually add their credit and debit cards into Wallet as well to enable the main NFC features of Apple Pay.

Apple is also continuously expanding the mobile wallet into new countries, and this week Apple Pay will launch in Belgium. Belgium-based newspaper De Tijd reports that several sources believe Apple Pay will launch in early November -- as soon as tomorrow, November 1 -- with major bank BNP Paribas Fortis supporting the launch. Next, Apple Pay is said to be "coming soon" to Saudi Arabia.

Article Link: Apple Pay 'Making Up a Lot of Ground' With Competitors Thanks to Success of Apple Pay Cash

 

[kevinbeared]

20$ for ramen ? Marketing at Apple just lose touch with reality

 

[Mike MA]

There are quite a few countries were Apple Pay would gain more traction if it would be finally introduced at all.

 

[PotatoLeekSoup]

A couple friends needed short-term loans in the past year. I had them setup Apple Pay Cash. Transactions went easy peasey. If you are on iOS it is a no-brainer.

PayPal is for the rare eBay purchase, that's all.

Never touched Venmo. "Public by default" privacy?? -facepalm-

 

[aerok]

Pretty sure the $20 is for pot

 

[now i see it]

Contactless Apple Pay in stores is fun, but once we (the customer) are paying online, we (the customer) could care less whether it's Apple Pay or PayPal. PayPal works fine, has been around forever, is ubiquitous and platform and device agnostic. Almost every website shopping cart uses it as a payment option now. I can't see Apple Pay ever unsurping PayPal (or PayPal users bothering to switch).

ApplePay is an answer to Apple's problem, not the customer's.

 

[jmh600cbr]

why the heck isn't this in canada yet

 

[Arlo Timetraveler]

I use Apple Pay a lot. It's really easy to use, because all I have to do is pull out my mobile. I have never used PayPal or Walmart payment methods to purchase things at the local store. I don't even know how those are used through my mobile. Maybe I just don't understand thoroughly the comment made in this article but I'm not sure how relevant comparing PayPal to the rest of the types of payment strategies. I've only used PayPal when I have purchasing items through my web browser on my laptop.

 

[tmiw]

I was saying something similar to this a while ago: focus way more on web and in-app usage and less on in-person use for the US market. The quirks of the US payments ecosystem mean that contactless acceptance will likely never reach 100% without it being mandated, and I'm not sure there's any appetite for doing that. Not to mention that more and more purchases in general are heading online.

That said, I do appreciate that contactless is accepted at more places now.

(By "quirks" I mean stuff like it being acceptable and even required for cashiers to run cards for customers. Meaning for instance that restaurants, even chip enabled ones, don't bring terminals to the table. Plus all of the other merchants that keep their terminals on their side of the counter and require you to hand your card to them.)

 

[powaking]

If Apple Pay Cash was allowed for teenagers under 18 who are in a family shared plan then the use case would certainly jump. Amazon allows 13+ to have their own account with the parent approving any transactions would be nice if Apple (and the backing agent) to allow transactions to be done with parent approval only (meaning cash coming in/out peer to peer is done between parent and child with certain limit on Apple Pay transactions from the Apple Pay Cash balance).

 

[OldSchoolMacGuy]

Contactless Apple Pay in stores is fun, but once we (the customer) are paying online, we (the customer) could care less whether it's Apple Pay or PayPal. PayPal works fine, has been around forever, is ubiquitous and platform and device agnostic. Almost every website shopping cart uses it as a payment option now. I can't see Apple Pay ever unsurping PayPal (or PayPal users bothering to switch).

ApplePay is an answer to Apple's problem, not the customer's.

I disagree. It's about simplicity for the customer. Apple Pay is far simpler in many cases. In-store, it's easier to quick tap our watch or phone to pay when compared to taking out the wallet, removing a credit card and inserting it into a chip-reader, then dealing with the prompts, etc.

Online, Apple Pay is also generally easier that PayPal. With Apple Pay, you simply click the phone button and you're done (or the TouchID on your MBP or MBA). No need to be redirected to the PayPal site, sign, click the confirmations, and be redirected back to the retailer website.

It's a far more seamless experience and one that can be done with far greater ease using Apple Pay.

 

[DaveOP]

Contactless Apple Pay in stores is fun, but once we (the customer) are paying online, we (the customer) could care less whether it's Apple Pay or PayPal. PayPal works fine, has been around forever, is ubiquitous and platform and device agnostic. Almost every website shopping cart uses it as a payment option now. I can't see Apple Pay ever unsurping PayPal (or PayPal users bothering to switch).

ApplePay is an answer to Apple's problem, not the customer's.

Completely disagree. I love using ApplePay to pay for things on any website that supports it. Not having to create accounts, already having all my payment methods available. I use PayPal heavily for purchases on sites that don't support Apple Pay, but will choose ApplePay over PayPal 100% of the time when given the option.

 

[BobOH]

The merchants around here aren't quick to upgrade systems for Apple Pay. Its getting better just this last year. I use it wherever I can but so many don't accept it yet because of their systems.

 

[cmaus]

Why the heck does Tim Cook announce Apple Pay for Germany "later this year", but Belgium and Saudi Arabia are getting it "just like that", without any announcement?

 

[Pacman72]

There are quite a few countries were Apple Pay would gain more traction if it would be finally introduced at all.

Agree if it was in The Netherlands I would be using it all the time I guess the Dutch Banks are not ready to share the €€ and pay apple there cut.

Same is with HomePods I can drive 1 hour across the boarder into Germany and buy them same plug and voltage but they are not available for purchase in NL crazy why cut out a market

 

[Mac-lover3]

Apple is also continuously expanding the mobile wallet into new countries, and this week Apple Pay will launch in Belgium. Belgium-based newspaper De Tijd reports that several sources believe Apple Pay will launch in early November -- as soon as tomorrow, November 1

I send this tip in yesterday to you MacRumors.. but okay
Thanks Apple I finally will be able to use it! Whoehoe!

 

[miflgr92]

I love using Apple Pay but I doubt Apple Pay Cash is going to take off. The banks even tried to enter this space with Zelle and as far as I can tell, that has been a failure. Venmo has been extremely popular with my generation these past few years and unless they somehow have a big PR screw up, I don't see that changing anytime soon.

 

[tkukoc]

I use Apple Pay and know a lot of people who do but Apple Pay Cash, I don't know a single person in my real world circle that uses it. Of course some say I'm a hermit and don't have real friends so maybe that's it?

 

[rmoliv]

It's SAD that I have to use a competitor on my iPhone because Apple is so damn slow.

 

[H.E. Pennypacker]

His mom just gave him 3 years worth the ramen money. Nice mom.

 

[iPunish901]

i love apple pay, i wish my family and friends loved apple pay cash since we all have iphones. but i cant get anyone to leave the square cash app or venmo. i think apple should somehow revamp apple pay cash in some way to seem more interesting.

 

[truthertech]

There are quite a few countries were Apple Pay would gain more traction if it would be finally introduced at all.

That's not up to Apple. They need to get cooperation of banking system, which has many legacy institutions that resist sharing the tiny amount Apple gets (around 15 cents on a hundred dollar purchase), and they often also fear losing that customer control/data.

 

[GadgetBen]

I cannot stand PayPal and their tight affiliation with eBay. I have been stung before as a Seller when selling my iPhone (ripped off by a fraudster) only to have PayPal automatically deduct money or block transactions.

I hope that Apple can gain more ground here.

 

[truthertech]

i love apple pay, i wish my family and friends loved apple pay cash since we all have iphones. but i cant get anyone to leave the square cash app or venmo. i think apple should somehow revamp apple pay cash in some way to seem more interesting.

Send them some cash via Apple Pay that requires them to use Apple Pay. Guarantee they will have keen interest.

 

[rizzo41999]

Apple Pay on the Watch changed the game for me.