As announced at the beginning of last month, Jennifer Bailey, responsible for the operations of the Apple Pay, participated in the Code Commerce conference, where she was interviewed (video above) and revealed some numbers in addition to briefly telling about what we can expect going forward.
When asked about the performance of Ma's mobile payment service today, Bailey said that penetration in the United States is around 35%, which is a good number compared to the 4% that started in 2014.
That number comprises more than 40 million locations that have already adopted the service. Part of this adoption may also be related to the fact that Apple Pay would be a more efficient alternative than chip cards that, according to Bailey, do not offer a good “experience” for users. The interviewer said that he expected to see a marketing campaign “attacking” this type of payment, showing the ease of the mobile service; however, Bailey only replied that this is not necessary; showing the benefits of your service and trying to work to increase the number of partners would be good enough.
Talking about partners, the executive recalled the several banks with which Apple has partnered, as well as several companies. She said that one of the news expected for 2017 is the famous clothing store Gap and also said that by next year two thirds of the 100 most famous stores in the US are expected to already be accepting Ma's mobile payments service.
When Apple Pay was announced, they said it would be a “replacement for traditional wallets”. Based on this, the interviewer asked if there is a project for users to use not only credit and debit cards, but also other services and even identification documents within the same system. The executive stated that the company is “thinking about everything in the portfolio”, but deviated the subject to avoid talking about possible projects.
Even so, she reminded that the service already accepts points programs, bonuses and gift cards from several stores, and also pointed out that a different experience is already being used in Japan (which is to use Apple Pay in transport such as subways, buses, etc. .). According to Bailey, users who use the service in transportation in the country are 3x more active than those who use regular payments (with credit / debit cards). About this, she stated that we can expect the company to do “more for transportation”.
It would certainly be great if the service really reached other areas, but the expansion is so slow that I think it would be better to concentrate the forces first on taking it to more and more places. Although Apple Pay has not officially arrived in Brazil, we hope that when it does, all the benefits that are being developed will come with it.
(via The Verge)
