According to the source, Apple Pay is being implemented by 750 banks and credit unions and numerous merchants. The feature is also being implemented for uses ranging from laundromats to vending machines to parking meters.
The company is targeting a market that in the US alone is projected to jump to USD 142 billion in 2019 from USD 52 billion in 2014, according to Forrester Research. Apple Pay joined the competition as retailers are upgrading cash registers to be more secure and ready to receive wireless transactions.
The source also mentions that Apple’s service has a long way to go against PayPal. In November 2014, Apple Pay accounted for 1% of digital payment dollars spent, according to ITG Investment Research. PayPal, which has been around for 17 years and is being spun off by EBay, had 78%, and Google Wallet, which debuted in 2011, had 4%.
The service works on the new iPhone 6 and the Apple Watch, which the company plans to begin shipping in April 2015. Users pay for purchases by holding a device near a cash-register reader with their finger on the Touch ID biometric sensor. By combining existing technologies in a package of hardware, software and services, Apple is betting it can further cement its products into the daily fabric of consumers’ lives.
Twenty percent to 30 percent of people who buy the new iPhones activate Apple Pay, the source also points out. A smaller percentage uses the service regularly.
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