Slowly but surely, that is how the U.S. market sees the growth of Apple Inc.'s latest cashless transaction offering called Apple Pay, as a significant number of subscribers have finally used the new service to purchase different products.
The New York Times recently reported that major U.S. food retailer Whole Foods recorded 150,000 Apple Pay transactions since it began three weeks ago. Walgreens, the nationwide drug chain, claimed that their mobile wallet payment transactions increased by a hundred percent since Apple Pay started, while McDonalds said that almost half of all their tap-to-pay transactions came from Apple Pay.
Things did not look so well when the mobile wallet service from the Cupertino-based company started in October. Two drugstore chains, CVS and Rite Aid, even blocked the service from their branches, but Apple continued to offer their mobile payment system to other willing retailers.
In just a few weeks, more consumers are starting to become more comfortable purchasing using this kind of mobile wallet transaction. One analyst shared an opinion with Gizmodo Australia.
The analyst said, "Quite frankly, a lot of it has to do with the strength of the Apple brand and how much merchants and customers love how easy the experience is... I'm not saying it's changing the landscape overnight. But this has never happened with other mobile wallets."
Aside from the U.S., the company also plans to offer Apple Pay in other parts of the world. Earlier today, Apple announced that their App Store began accepting payments from China's most popular payment card called UnionPay just by linking their Apple ID into their UnionPay accounts.
Eddie Cue, the senior vice president of Internet Software and Services of Apple Inc., said, "The ability to buy apps and make purchases using UnionPay cards has been one of the most requested features from our customers in China."
Cue added that "China is already our second largest market for app downloads, and now we're providing users with an incredibly convenient way to purchase their favorite apps with just one-tap."
Though Apple Pay might not be the first payment option at this point, it could still be one of the vital payment systems in the future.
