Can you imagine not having to carry your wallet everywhere you go? As usual, Apple has thought of everything. To add to all the new tech products, Apple has created a system that allows you to purchase anything right from your iPhone! Now you don’t have to have your credit card with you at all times to purchase something. Apple has enabled you to have “your wallet, without the wallet”. You simply set Apple Pay up on your phone, type in your credit card information, and you’re good to go… How much easier can it get? Although this is an ingenious idea, there are inevitably some flaws that come with it.
One major drawback is that not all stores have invested or will invest in the technology that enables you to use Apple Pay. One reason for this is that retailers will have to pay higher transaction fees to Apple on every purchase made through Apple Pay. So you might go into a store without your wallet, expecting to pay with your iPhone, but you may not be able to because the store has not yet acquired and set up the system that allows you to pay with your iPhone. It often takes a relatively long time for stores to change up familiar routines that often include payment methods.
There may be other competitive products and ways to pay that stores may be considering, including their own methods of credit-card-less payments. While Apple Pay is a new and convenient idea, there are many factors like this that may make their business less than desirable.
Another flaw is that the only customers able to use this method of payment are iPhone 6 users. Not everyone owns the new iPhone 6 or 6 Plus, so the customer pool attracted to Apple Pay is necessarily very limited. Additionally, when or if more people have the 6 or 6 Plus and start using Apple Pay, the technology might lose some of its efficiency and familiarity. The act of swiping a credit card to pay at a store is so quick and involuntary that the widespread implementation of Apple Pay would change all of that. New technologies always come with their share of updates and slow moments, and that could potentially become a frustration to customers.
Clearly, although this is a innovative and exciting idea on Apple’s part, there are still some reasons to wait and see how things turn out. Apple Pay has some flaws that might cause both customers and retailers to wait and see how things develop before they jump in, but Apple Pay is another example of Apple’s innovation in daily life.