Apple wants to become the front-runner in the cashMoney in physical form such as banknotes and coins. More elimination battle. Speaking to the Japanese News Service Nikkei the tech giant’s CEO, Tim Cook, stated his ambition to put Apple at the forefront of the shift to digital payments.
Cook believes that consumers don’t like cash and is bullishly suggesting that Apple Pay will be the answer to this so-called adversity. The problem is that Cook is basing his statements on what he thinks, and not what is proven.
Struggling to be liked
Since its launch in 2014, Apple Pay has been struggling to gain market shares. Last June, pymnts.com published data on Apple Pay’s adoption rate, and the numbers aren’t very merry. There are fewer users now than when the paymentA transfer of funds which discharges an obligation on the part of a payer vis-à-vis a payee. More app was launched. Also, a third of the people that have tried and used the product now say that they rarely consider using it. “Roughly speaking, only one person in 20 who have the service uses it when they can, 19 out of 20 people who have the service don’t even bother (PYMNTS.com)”.
Another issue Cook hasn’t taken into consideration is the people that use Android (more than a billion worldwide) as well as consumers without smartphones or credit cards.
Why so much effort?
One question that should be asked, is why is Apple putting so much effort into Apple Pay when it’s currently not the company’s main income-generating product? The answer might be in the huge profit potential this payment system has to offer. If Apple gets ahead of the game of the payments race and eliminates cash, consumers will be at Apple Pay’s mercy for any hidden fees. In fact, it is already believed that Apple collects 0.15% on each transaction in the U.S. (Apple has never publicly disclosed these fees).
In the meantime, consumers continue to use cash and cards and the challenges ahead for Apple to become the #1 payment service provider are growing.
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