With the internet almost ubiquitous around the world and expected to cover every corner of the planet by 2050, the concept of a cashless society is on the horizon. It’s up to the world’s best tech developers to come up with digital alternatives for paper and coins, with mobile payment gateways starting to take off massively already.
Integrated payment systems that exist within mobile devices appear to be key at present, as most people now carry a smartphone around with them. Instead of using cards for purchases, there’s a rise in people simply scanning their smartphones for fast, safe, and secure transactions. Apple Pay has grown rapidly since it was conceived eight years ago, and it has the potential to be one of the world’s most popular payment systems.
Apple Pay’s Usage Has Risen Dramatically
Apple Pay was conceived in 2014. Around this time, tech companies were scrambling to catch up with PayPal, which was poised to embark on its campaign for global domination. It was clear that digital payment systems were the future, and Apple needed to offer its own solution to avoid losing out to its rivals.
In a short space of time, Apple Pay has become one of the best and most comprehensive digital wallets on the market. The great thing about it is that it doesn’t need contactless payment terminals to be set up to accept it. Instead, it’s designed to work with any merchant that already accepts contactless payments. It has been lauded for its security, as it’s integrated with the built-in biometric technology on the iPhone. This means that users can simply show their face or scan their fingerprint to activate the wallet and perform secure transactions.
Thanks to its partnerships with various public transport networks around the world, many users find Apple Pay to be the most effective and convenient solution to going about their everyday lives. The concept attracted a lot of interest from the start, with more than three million credit cards registered to Apple Pay within the first three days of its release. It’s found most success in the USA so far and was used by 20 percent of iPhone 6 users in the country by 2016. In 2020, it was discovered that Apple Pay accounted for five percent of transactions around the world.
Users Can Now Purchase Cryptocurrency with Apple Pay
For many people, the future of money is cryptocurrency. After all, the internet has created a borderless online society so it makes sense that there should be global, digital currencies for people to use when they are online. The need for a unified internet currency could increase dramatically when virtual reality goes mainstream, and people start to exist in the metaverse. According to SocialMediaToday, the metaverse could become a real thing in the 2030s, and at this time, the financial picture may look drastically different.
The rise of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has been stunning, and the technology is already knocking on the door of the mainstream. This is highlighted by its increased usage in key industries, especially online sectors that rely on digital payments. The online casino industry has always acted as a trailblazer for adopting new technology, and Bitcoin usage is now rife in that sector. Indeed, there are so many crypto casinos out there now that players need to use aggregators like BitcoinCasinoWiz to find the best sites to play at. They can look through ratings from expert reviewers and see the bonuses on offer. These include free spins and deposit matches up to one BTC.
Apple has realized that Bitcoin is impossible to ignore and has already begun to work on ways to streamline it with Apple Pay. It is already possible to purchase cryptocurrency with the platform, as many Bitcoin exchanges now accept Apple Pay. The next step could be to allow users to incorporate their Bitcoin wallets with their Apple Pay accounts. If this doesn’t come to fruition, perhaps Apple Pay could act as a cryptocurrency wallet that allows for transfers of digital currency.
This would doubtlessly be a good move for Apple, but it would also be a huge announcement for cryptocurrency. It’s deals like this that enthusiasts are waiting for as they represent another step toward taking crypto into the mainstream. This was highlighted when PayPal announced that it was going to be compatible with Bitcoin in 2021. The value of the original cryptocurrency shot up after that and it gained a lot more traction in popular culture.
Limited to Users of Apple Products
The main stumbling block for Apple Pay is the fact that it is limited to users of Apple products. That means that unless Apple manages to achieve complete global domination, it won’t become the number one payment system. However, it could easily be one of the leading ones, which sets the standard for other companies to follow.
People who own iPhones and iPads will gradually move towards using Apple Pay as their sole payment method if the company takes the right steps to make it appeal to everyone. Therefore, the number one mission for Apple now should be to get all its users onto the payment system. It needs to do extensive research into what the preferred methods of its users are, and then seek to offer them all rolled into one.
Currently, it’s estimated that there are around 507 million people using Apple Pay. More than 2.2 billion iPhones have been sold around the world, with Apple having a 27.22 percent market share, according to DemandSage. It’s clear from these stats that a vast number of Apple users don’t yet opt for Apple Pay for their payments. Many people may still use other digital wallets, as there are 2.3 billion mobile wallets in use around the world. It’s Apple’s job to get its users on board first and then use Apple Pay as a selling point to convert more people into buying future products.
Apple Pay has the potential to be a game-changer for iPhone and iPad users and could easily become their preferred payment method in the future. However, it won’t take off as the number one payment system around the world unless Apple completely dominates the mobile market and renders the likes of Samsung and Huawei obsolete – a highly unlikely scenario.
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