Apple Pay Starts To Take Off, Leaving Competition In The Dust

From Forbes.com

Apple Pay almost got buried in the blowout profits of Apple’s first fiscal quarter reported today. But while Apple’s new mobile wallet surely won’t contribute to those profits anytime soon, if ever, it’s clear that new iPhone 6 owners like it. A lot.

During the company’s earnings conference call today, Apple CEO Tim Cook said Apple Pay accounts for about $2 of of every $3 spent using mobile-phone contactless payments across Visa, Mastercard, and American Express. “We are more convinced than ever that 2015 will be the year of Apple Pay,” Cook said.

Whole Foods, he said, has seen a 400% jump in mobile payments since the October launch of Apple Pay, even though it can accept other mobile payment schemes such as Google Wallet. Panera Bread says Apple Pay is responsible for 80% of its mobile payments. ”I’m actually unbelievably shocked, positively shocked at how many merchants were able to implement Apple Pay in the middle of their holiday season,” he said.

And more are coming. Apple had announced earlier in the day that USA Technologies would accept Apple Pay at 200,000 self-serve terminals in vending machines, laundromats, and elsewhere. Cook added that he thinks it’s the “first inning” of Apple Pay’s rollout.

That much is true. It still works only with two iPhone 6 models (and some iPads but only on apps, not in stores). The Apple Watch due to debut in April will enable iPhone 5 models to use it, but that still means no Android phone owners will be able to use it. And it’s U.S.-only for now, though Cook implied he wants that to change: “There is not a day that goes by when I don’t get a note from a business outside the U.S. wanting Apple Pay.”

In response to a question about other features that might be added, such as person-to-person payments such as Venmo provides, Cook hinted that Apple Pay before long will provide more to the wallet. Some retail and payments experts also say it needs to add loyalty programs, for instance. “There’s tons of things on our roadmap of adding functionality to it,” he said.

Although it’s unlikely Apple Pay will become universal even among iPhone users anytime soon, the company is showing clear progress in getting people comfortable with mobile payment.

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