Apple Pay Is On Pace To Account For 10 Percent of All Global Card Transactions (qz.com) 64
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Quartz: Apple Pay accounts for about 5% of global card transactions and is on pace to handle 1-in-10 such payments by 2025, according to recent trend data compiled by Bernstein, a research firm. "There are indeed plenty of reasons to worry that Apple may attempt to disrupt the payments ecosystem," Bernstein analysts, led by Harshita Rawat, wrote in a research note. As iPhone sales plateau, the Cupertino-based company is leaning into its services division, which includes Apple Pay. The unit generated $12.7 billion in revenue in the last three months of 2019, a 17% increase from a year earlier. The company's payments ambitions have the benefit of a massive cash hoard, years of experience in card transactions, and a vast customer base consisting of hundreds of millions of iPhone users.
In the U.S., contactless payments are forecast to increase to $1.5 trillion in 2024, up from $178 billion this year, according to Juniper Research. [...] Apple Pay probably won't pose a challenge to the card giants anytime soon. While the tech company could, in theory, create its own network that runs outside the card systems, Bernstein argues that Apple still needs the card networks, which are ubiquitous and trusted. Visa and MasterCard, meanwhile, are used to dealing with partners (traditionally large card-issuing banks) with the kind of scale that even Apple Pay could muster.
In the U.S., contactless payments are forecast to increase to $1.5 trillion in 2024, up from $178 billion this year, according to Juniper Research. [...] Apple Pay probably won't pose a challenge to the card giants anytime soon. While the tech company could, in theory, create its own network that runs outside the card systems, Bernstein argues that Apple still needs the card networks, which are ubiquitous and trusted. Visa and MasterCard, meanwhile, are used to dealing with partners (traditionally large card-issuing banks) with the kind of scale that even Apple Pay could muster.
Okay (Score:1)
Okay
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
From the summary:
"There are indeed plenty of reasons to worry that Apple may attempt to disrupt the payments ecosystem"
Correction: "There are indeed plenty of reasons to hope that Apple may attempt to disrupt the payments ecosystem"
Any disruption of the Visa/MC duopoly will be a huge win for consumers.
Re:Okay (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
It's distorted in this case, spending does not reflect numbers but more Apple's higher income customer base who are more than willing to spend extra money on fashionable accoutrements, although the earn more, they also spend more on credit and make Apple's number look better than they otherwise would. Apple customers are not the most cost concious buyers and will place image over cost efficiency.
Prediction (Score:2)
Centralization of financial control has a ways to go yet, though.
4.35% (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
I'm pretty sure most merchants would love to drop Master Card and Visa the first chance they get.
Unfortunately, it is the consumer who chooses the payment method, and most businesses are prohibited from passing the CC "tax" on to their customers.
Gas stations are usually exempt and can charge less for cash or debit.
For customers who get miles or cash rewards, credit cards appear to be cheaper than cash.
Re: (Score:2)
In truth, is is against the member services agreement that you sign to open a CC merchant account to pass on the CC tax, but it's not against the law.
In business, large transactions are always done via check explicitly to avoid losing 3% t
Re: (Score:2)
I believe that contract clause was ruled illegal and void a few years ago in Canada. Approximately when a few stores (mainly mom and pops) started charging premiums on CC transactions.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
In Canada, the courts have ruled that
1) Merchants can refuse "high cost" cards
2) Merchants may pass on credit card fees to consumers.
This was several years ago when the retail association took the credit
Re: (Score:2)
Something really needs to be done to rationalize the system; you have these miserable competing forces fighting cash on one side, and charging fees for using credit cards on the other. The effects of anti money-laundering policies make everything even harder to grasp, especially when travelling.
I know Apple Pay (as it stands now) is not improving any of this, but I really hope they figure something out, on a global scale.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Given Apple's record with their app store and content store then yeah, maybe. Perhaps merchants that sell things Apple doesn't like won't be able to use their service.
Re: (Score:2)
What is the equivalent cost to securely handle cash? You need to provide that for a fair comparison.
Re: (Score:2)
Several.
1) Training. Do you know how to count the register? Do you know what the "Cash" button does on a register? Hint: The cash register needs to be told how much cash is in the cashbox at the start. Every time someone pays in cash, the register records that amount incoming and outgoing. And at the end of the day, you need to reconcile your cashbox with the register. (Credit is easier to reconcile since com
Re: (Score:2)
Apple Pay just makes payments with your existing card a little bit easier, a little bit faster, and a lot more secure because no dodgy retailer or employee can get their hands on your card details.
Re: (Score:2)
Some merchants give discounts for using cards because the cost of handling cash outweighs the fees.
Cash slows down transactions so they need more tills and staff. It has to be counted and transported to the bank. Mistakes happen more frequently.
I just don't trust it (Score:3)
Even though contactless payments are easy to do, I've used it once in a blue moon when I forgot my actual credit card, I just don't trust due to the ease of abuse and lack of physical confirmation on the terminals that you're indeed doing the right transaction.
On the other hand, are there any contenders to the Apple Pay ecosystems? It doesn't seem like Android is getting theirs off the ground even though they have a much larger user base.
Re: (Score:1)
Samsung Pay. WeChat Pay. Alipay. Depending on your country.
Re: (Score:2)
Samsung Pay. WeChat Pay. Alipay. Depending on your country.
WeChat and AliPay are often accepted in America where Asian tourists are common, such as Hawaii, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas.
These systems work much better than any American payment method. No credit card is needed, the merchant needs no infrastructure other than a 2 cent QR sticker, and electronic communication with the merchant can't be compromised because there is no communication.
Re:I just don't trust it (Score:4, Insightful)
What do you mean by ease of abuse? Apple Pay is *more* secure than an ordinary credit card payment. The card is tokenized. You get instant confirmation of the transaction amount on your device. It can’t be triggered accidentally or maliciously. It uses TouchID or FaceID. Where’s the scope for abuse?
Re: (Score:3)
FaceID is the reason my wife stopped using it. You have to hold the phone over the payment terminal and then lean over it so it can see your face. It's so awkward she just doesn't bother.
I don't see why it's necessary. On Android you don't have to, once the phone is unlocked that's it.
Having said that one of the reasons I didn't get a Pixel 4 was the lack of fingerprint reader.
Re: (Score:2)
Mate, in the nicest possible way, can I suggest your wife books a session at an Apple Store to learn the basics of how to use her iPhone? You keep on mis-advising her, because you don't know about the platform because you're an Android user. And she keeps making really extraordinary mistakes.
Using Apple Pay on iPhone is literally a question of double-clicking the side button to trigger the all-in-one, 1second, process to open Apple Pay and authenticate via FaceID, and then holding the phone on the terminal
Re: (Score:2)
I'll try moving the phone away from the terminal next time. It's not obvious that you can do that.
But how does it work? It uses NFC with a range of a few centimetres to talk to the terminal, so once you move it away it can't communicate the accept/reject status. Does it tell the bank to reject?
Are you in the US? It might be different, this is the UK. She uses a bank issued credit card with it, not an Apple card.
I did talk to the Apple staff before. Asked how to use the iPad pen to write text into QQ or WeCh
Re: (Score:2)
I'm in the UK too.
I don't know the details of how it works.
But I advise doing it the other way anyway:
- Take out the phone
- Double-press the side button -- you will trigger Apple Pay and automatically authenticate via FaceID when doing this, unless you hold the phone upside down
- Hold it near the reader to make the payment
It's literally a few seconds to do
If it's still not clear, here's a video of how to do it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Re Apple Pencil. This just screams that you need to book that ses
Re: (Score:2)
I'll try the payment thing. Didn't know you'll could double tap the power button to launch it. So much for intuitive. I've seen a lot of other people doing it that way too. I don't see why it needs it when you already authenticated by unlocking the phone.
But you can't write text with the pen, at least not in English, right? Or was the Apple employee wrong about that?
Re: (Score:2)
I don't understand what you mean when you say "Didn't know you'll could double tap the power button to launch it. So much for intuitive". This is the *only* way to launch Apple Pay on an iPhone with FaceID where you are not physically next to a terminal. Did you or your wife never wonder "how do I launch Apple Pay?"??
I'm pretty sure the double-tap to launch process is explained in the setup instructions for Apple Pay, but it's been a while since I set it up, so I can't be sure.
There are lots of apps that in
Re: (Score:2)
She usually just touches the phone to the payment terminal and it opens Apple Pay. Same as on Android Google Pay opens. The NFC protocol let's the terminal tell the phone to open its payment app.
So she just unlocks the phone with her face as normal and then taps it on the terminal. Same as I do on Android.
Then it tells you to double press the power button to acknowledge, and then it asks to see your face again. It's rather awkward.
Maybe you need a store session too.
So these apps are not like keyboards that
Re: (Score:2)
In a previous post, you said she doesn't use it any more and it required her to authenticate with FaceID while the phone was held to the terminal. That's not the case. What you describe now is one way of using Apple Pay, but includes an unnecessary step on its own terms (no need to unlock the phone before tapping on the terminal), and you actually have to try quite hard, eg deliberately look away, to be able to double press the power button to acknowledge *without* the iPhone seeing your face at the same ti
Re: (Score:2)
Thanks, I will explain it to her so she can try it your way. It does sound a lot easier, it just wasn't intuitive or obvious like Google Pay was.
She uses handwriting input for Chinese most of the time, it's the easiest way for her. It only lets you do one character at a time though, not just write freehand like Samsung's handwriting input does. And for some reason it isn't supported in English, which is weird because Apple supported that back as far as the Newton!
The Newton interface was actually a lot like
Re: (Score:2)
Let me know how she gets on.
And do book that session at a store. It will be immensely beneficial.
Or, use an Apple Watch (Score:2)
Put it on in the morning and unlock your phone (carefully if necessary).
The watch unlocks and stays unlocked until you take it off.
Double click the watch button, swipe right if you have multiple cards, tap the payment device with the watch.
Re: (Score:2)
Sub one day battery life though... No thanks.
Per-vendor (Score:2)
On the other hand, are there any contenders to the Apple Pay ecosystems? It doesn't seem like Android is getting theirs off the ground even though they have a much larger user base.
The problem is that "Android" is just a nebulous group of companies all using the same platform. But to create a trusted payment system you need a large corporation as a solid base.
So there's not "Android Standard Payment System".
Instead there are either systems created by large manufacturer (Samsung Pay, Google Pay) or systems supported by large financial institutions or banks (CH's TWINT, DE/AT's Bluecode, CN's Alipay, etc.)
QR-codes (Score:2)
QR-codes are a nice fall back system.
They work even on hardware that doesn't have direct access to the NFC hardware (Apple, lots of vending machines) or don't have any NFC hardware to begin with (think old payment terminals and vending machine that pre-date contactless payment, think online merchant, etc.)
As long as you have a semi-decent display, it's trivial to add a QR-code with a software update. (This is actually happening in the wild in Switzerland with one of the new modern smartphone payment system
Re: QR-codes (Score:2)
I live in Switzerland. TWINT is great for giving your kids allowance or something (it can transfer person-to-person), but for merchants Iâ(TM)d much rather use Apple Pay for the security. However, until recently no major Swiss bank offered it despite CardServices AG allowing it. Recently Credit Suisse finally relented, but unfortunately Iâ(TM)m at UBS and Iâ(TM)m my situation it would be expensive to switch. Iâ(TM)m hoping UBS allows Apple Pay soon...
Comment removed (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
That is odd; the only places I ever have any issues with it are internationally, where the local laws often make using a foreign credit card hit or miss.
Re: (Score:2)
You haven’t been around much lately then. Thailand and Malaysia do a lot of blind rejects for foreign cards, especially at automated kiosks. Malaysia I have had several issues with multi-function terminals as well. (This includes one card that supposedly should never be rejected; fraud is supposed to be accepted under a certain amount and a call or text initiated to verify when available.)
Re: (Score:2)
I have yet to find any place here in Denmark where Apple Pay does not work. Perhaps because we have started using the chip card early as well as the wireless option, it was a small task to get it to work.
Re: (Score:2)
I find that both Apple Pay and Google Play randomly fail for no reason. If I take out the card and tap that then it's fine, and then at the next merchant it works again.
No indication why, it just refuses.
Take on wechat pay? (Score:3)
Will they be able to take on wechat pay, is the real question. No allow government access to all transaction records, no allowed to operate.
I don't buy it. (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Subprime lending business (Score:1)
Addicted to its cultist pumped revenue, Apple is compelled to squeeze more money out of its shrinking user base [cnn.com] by making it as easy as possible to spend money they don't have. Much the same way a cigarette company gets more money from each of its addicts. Apple needs subprime borrowers in much the same way as Big Tobacco needs future cancer patients.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Android 88% Apple 11.9% [statista.com] The market isn't getting bigger as fast as Apple's share is shrinking. Apple's revenue grew only by inflated prices and assorted dirty tricks, not by getting new users.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Apple has always had ~10% market share.
Didn't look at the graph, hmm? No.
Re: (Score:2)
doesn't seem sustainable growth (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Apple Pay != (all) Contactless (Score:2)
I wonder if the authors realized that contactless payment statistics are not simply Apple Pay payment statistics. Android devices have been doing NFC for far longer and there are other non-phone devices as well.