The dust is starting to settle after Apple's iPhone 6 and Apple Watch reveal. Of course however, of most interest to us here at Ensygnia was the reveal of Apple's mobile payments intentions. But was Apple Pay of interest to everyone else? Are the customers who will go out and buy the iPhone 6 next week excited by the announcement? We hope so, because they should be.
I've questioned more than once (here and here) whether Apple would be smart to enter the mobile payment market. Banking is a serious business to get such a strong lifestyle brand involved in. One thing that hasn't been in question though, is that Apple's move into the market is good news for anyone else involved in mobile payments.
Apple can be a market leader and give impetus to the Mobile Payments market. The potential size of the market is colossal and there are room for many players. So the sooner consumers become more comfortable with mobile payments, the better for everyone with a vested interest in the industry. The precedent Apple have now set with transaction cost with the biggest card distributors in particular will help other mobile payments providers.
And there was certainly a lot more about Apple Pay I liked and it gave reason to believe once people get their hands on it, they will use it.
First and foremost Apple allayed some of my security and brand fears. Similar to the Mobile payment aspect of the Ensygnia Onescan experience, Apple position themselves agnostically in regard to the actual payment and don't store or give away to merchants any of your personal financial information.
"When you add a credit or debit card with Apple Pay, the actual card numbers are not stored on the device nor on Apple servers." - Apple
The other nice slick touches, as we come to expect from Apple, include no need to open a specific app to make Apple Pay payments. And if you want to add a new debit or credit card to the system, you can simply take a picture of it rather than type in all the details.
Apple Pay is great for the mobile payments industry as a whole, and we are excited about the possibilities of introducing it into our own app as another payment method we support.
It's just a shame that its release is limited to the USA only at the moment. And an even bigger shame, Apple Pay is only available on the new iPhone 6. Here's hoping those die hard Apple fans, of which there are plenty, are just as excited next week about Mobile payments as they are about their 'bigger and bigger' screens and there revolutionary new watches…
By Matthew Taylor 12th September 2014
Related story around the web:
Apple Announces Apple Pay - Apple
Apple Watch unveiled alongside new larger iPhones - BBC
Why do you have to buy an iPhone 6 to get a working digital wallet? Think different - The Guardian
Did we just see the future of mobile payments? - PYMNTS
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