It’s been a few months since Apple announced its release of Apple Pay, a mobile wallet available on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. But mobile wallets have been around for a few years, and Americans have been very slow to adopt them. So why are so many mobile payment processing officials excited about the future of Apple Pay in the U.S.?
EMV Pressure
Mobile payment experts like Steve Cadden, believe that current conditions in the States are favorable towards the fast adoption of Apple Pay. On October 2015, acquirers, issuers, and merchants are required to implement Europay-MasterCard-Visa (EMV), a chip card standard that requires new debit and credit cards to switch from data strips to information chips. In addition, merchants are required to attain EMV support processing equipment. The entity that does not provide consumers with EMV chips or processing equipment, will assume liability for counterfeit card transactions.
Apple Pay utilizes EMV technology called near-field communication (NFC) or “tap and go,” transmits the payment token to a particular merchant’s equipment.
Shifting Demographics
In addition to a looming EMV chip card standard deadline, industry experts believe that consumer behaviors indicate a readiness to adopt Apple Pay. First of all, the market that would most integrate Apple Pay into their lives are coming of age. 80 million millennials-adults 18 to 29, and 20 million teens are willing and able to add one more app that will make shopping faster and more convenient.
Name Recognition
And of course, there’s the name recognition that Apple brings to the table. Millennials and post-millennials haven’t lived in a time without Apple playing a critical role in their learning, social, or entertainment experience. With this heightened exposure comes trust in Apple and the desire for their products.
The release of Apple Pay has a few more implications. One of these is the ability of previously excluded industries to use Apple Pay to process their customer’s payments. The adult industry is one of these areas. Now is the time for adult merchants to find a merchant friendly adult merchant processing partner to help manage their accounts. Contact eMerchantBroker.com to learn more.