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Apple Pay: Endgame | Computerworld

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Five years since it turned your iPhone into a wallet Apple now dominates the mobile payments space in the U.S., and has created a foundation of digital trust that will enable it to explore other future opportunities beyond hardware.

Money, money, money

Apple Pay was first introduced in the U.S. five years ago on October 20, 2014 (I’ve embedded its launch video below).

It is fair to say the U.S. market wasn’t really primed for mobile payment services, which were already in use in some form in Europe and APAC and adoption reflected this.

As of January 2019, just 12% of Apple Pay users were based in the U.S. with 88% elsewhere, a report from Co-Op Financial Services claimed.

Apple has kept up the pressure, working to enhance Apple Pay availability and to evangelize use of mobile devices for tasks related to personal identity – using Apple Watch as an ID on campus helps enhance perception of these devices in more vital roles.

Apple has been parlaying its high degree of user satisfaction and status as a trusted tech brand to help promote its mobile service.

Wake up and smell the coffee

It seems to be working.

eMarketer reports that 30% of U.S. smartphone users will use a mobile payments app with 30.3 million Americans now choosing to use Apple Pay. 24% of US iPhone users have used Apple Pay compared to 47% of international users.

These numbers suggest that U.S. consumers (like consumers everywhere else) have become more accustomed to using mobile payment systems. It also hints that they are choosing to use Apple Pay at a faster rate than other payment systems.

Starbucks had been the leading mobile payment service in the U.S., but it has now been surpassed by Apple Pay, according to eMarketer.

That’s interesting because while Starbucks only lets you buy stuff at Starbucks (and rewards you when you do), Apple Pay lets you purchase product almost anywhere.

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