Apple Pay is off to an excellent start, according to Tim Cook and the rest of the company’s top brass. But a recent study found that the majority of users are having issues using the mobile payments service at checkout.
Phoenix Marketing International surveyed around 3,000 iPhone 6 and 6 Plus owners and found that 66% have linked a debit card to Apple Pay. 88% of those users made a transaction with the service in the last four months.
68% of those surveyed said they’ve run into problems with Apple Pay during the checkout process. Transactions either took too long to record, the cashier was unfamiliar with the service, or transactions were recorded incorrectly or doubled.
Apple Pay users made on average just 2.6 in-store transactions in its first four months of availability. Apple’s own stores, Macy’s, and McDonalds accounted for the bulk of the transactions.
While the report does note that users are actively seeking out retailers that support Apple Pay, it also points to how difficult it can be to find stores that have signed on. Apple just made it possible for retailers to get free decals for advertising that they support Apple Pay, which will hopefully help the discovery issue.
Tim Cook has said that he expects 2015 to be the “year of Apple Pay,” and 700,000 stores already support the service in the United States. There are still a lot of hurdles to overcome aside from streamlining the checkout process, including international rollouts and a loyalty program for merchants. But it’s clear that Apple is dominating the mobile payments industry, regardless of the early hiccups.
Alex Heath is a journalist who works for Tech Insider. He’s the former co-host of The CultCast. He has been quoted by the likes of the BBC, KRON 4 News, and books like “ICONIC: A Photographic Tribute to Apple Innovation.” He lives in Lexington, Kentucky. If you want to pitch a story, share a tip, or just get in touch, additional contact information is available on his personal site. Follow him on Twitter.
5 responses to “Apple Pay’s biggest hurdle to overcome is at checkout”
Overall it’s a great system and I can’t wait for it to keep expanding. It makes things more secure unless you use cash every time. One thing i did notice from using both gwallet and apple pay. Gwallet was easier at checkout once you entered the pin, because you can enter pin before you get to register and all you do is tap once.
Seems to work fine for me, though I can only use it at McDonalds around my house. It works very quickly at McD. I think if its accepted at more places, the checkout process will become smoother at some retailers, and employees will be better trained. Right now, retailers don’t spend a lot of time on training, because very few people use it.
I used Apple Pay for the first time last night. I was not impressed. I had to pull the phone off my hip, type in the passcode, activate the Pay Thingy (should have a more familiar name, like CHARGE!). Then I had to select the card, point at the receiver “a little closer, please”, then stick my thumb on the button and wait for it to register. Way to much time and effort. I can have my wallet out and the card swiped in half the time.
You’re doing it wrong. You do NOT even need to unlock your iPhone or open Passbook to use Apple Pay (btw, passcode? why aren’t you using the Touch ID to unlock?). You just pull out your phone, put it over the terminal (the credit card is displayed on screen) and your thumb on the Touch ID.
Went into Tijuana Flats store in Ocala FL and asked the girl at the register if they took Apple Pay. She said she’d never heard of it, and then asked her manager, who snidely said, “I’ve never heard of that. If it’s Apple, I ignore it.” Ass. I told the girl, after he walked away feeling good about harming his employment, “You should tell your manager he needs to learn about Apple Pay.”