We got to see Apple Pay in action for the first time in the fall of 2014. Several retailers joined in support of the platform but faced resistance from several companies who were trying develop their own payment solution. Other competitors have since appeared in the market, namely Samsung Pay, and Google Pay, among others. Apple said it wasn't worried about the slow adoption of Apple Pay because it saw the mobile wallet as on track to soon become its customers' "primary payment system."
Loup Ventures; a venture capital firm based in Minneapolis and New York shared new information on Apple Pay adoption today. According to the report, there were 127 million global Apple Pay users by the end of 2017, a jump from 62 million the previous year. Given that there are about 795 million active iPhones around the world, so only about 16 percent of iPhone owners have activated Apple Pay. Of that 16 percent total, 5 percent of users are located in the United States and the remaining 11 percent are international users. Around 38 million people use Apple Pay in the U.S. and 89 million use Apple's mobile wallet globally.
The Apple Pay review also has shed light on other information, including that the number of banks globally supporting Apple Pay. The number has increased in the past year by 41 percent, to a total of 2,707. Apple Pay adaptations among the top 100 retailers in the U.S. grew 9 percent. Mobile sites grew 85 percent, and desktop sites grew 56 percent.
Apple executives have remained in vocal support of the service at the time of the launch. However, due to customer indifference towards the service, several executives within the company shied away from promoting it. The reluctance is visible in recent ads for iPhone, which have been heavily focused on the iPhone X's new features. The last time we saw Apple Pay-focused commercials were all the way back in 2015.
Despite the slow adoption, Loup Ventures analyst Gene Munster said he and the researchers "remain optimistic" that over the next three to five years, Apple Pay will see ongoing, gradual growth. Although the report doesn't discuss rival mobile wallets specifically, it states that Apple Pay is "the easiest to use digital wallet" because of its deep integration into iOS. Overall, wallet services are still in a nascent stage and it'll be a while before they gain mass appeal. Also worth mentioning is the fact that the service isn't available in several regions, which further dissuades people from using it.
News Source: macromors
