With everything transferring to the digital world it wouldn’t be long before we saw even the method in which we pay for our purchases to follow the trend also. Mobile applications have us ordering our takeaways, doing our laundry, booking taxis and even planning our exercise routines, so it comes at no surprise the titans at apple have seen the opportunity to revolutionise society once again focusing this time on our payment procedures.
In the past year or so contact-less payment has been on the rise, and for many has become the method of choice for most when on the go in the busy metropolitan lives that we seem to answer to. Transport for London announced that they would too be accepting contact-less payment on their underground and bus systems, and so begins the decline in popularity or need for the former favourite Oyster card method. But why let it stop here? New technologies and apps are now emerging that are removing all need for card payment at all, and instead using our mobile devices to complete transactions.
So what’s this all meant for Apple? Well, never one to seize an opportunity to attain more of our highly personal data the company are set to launch worldwide a system they call “Apple Pay”.
Apple Pay works by letting users scan their credit cards, from MasterCard, Visa or American Express, and then upload that information into the Passbook app. Rather than rely on the traditional 16-digit credit card number, shoppers receive a digital token that is unique to each device and can only be used with that device. The app will also be made available on the highly anticipated Apple watch, the first in the companies line of wearable technology.
Many are naturally concerned about what this means after those nights where one to many drinks may have led to leaving your phone in the taxi but we have been rest assured and informed that the user can suspend payments from their iPhone if the device is lost or stolen. The hope is that these features can improve security by limiting the customer’s exposure.
Apple is expected to take a cut of each payment transaction processed through the platform, perhaps providing another significant revenue stream that could also help its bottom line. Multiple researchers have projected that mobile payment volume will surge in the coming years, with Gartner estimating that total transactions will hit $720 billion in 2017 and IDC estimating mobile payments will top $1 trillion in 2017.
But this research isn’t the only thing to suggest that it will be a success, articles on the likes of Mashable have also projected great success for the company, link below.
http://mashable.com/2014/09/10/5-reasons-why-apple-pay-is-the-sleeper-hit-of-the-apple-event/
Emma Battle 