Apple Pay is everywhere as it turns 10 years old
When Apple launched Apple Pay in 2014, at an event 10 years to the day before this year’s iPhone launch, Apple promised the feature would “change the way you pay.” A decade later, Apple Pay is everywhere.
You can use it to buy groceries and coffee; you can use it to ride the New York City subway or rent a Lime scooter. You can use Apple Pay and skip the whole multipage checkout process on lots of online stores. You can use it on your phone, your watch, your computer, countless websites, your TV, and your headset. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau estimated that 55.8 million Americans made an in-store payment with Apple Pay in the month of April 2023. Apple says Pay works at more than 85 percent of retailers in the US, but anecdotally, I can’t remember the last time I couldn’t pay just by double-clicking the power button on my phone. Apple Pay is so good, it can be dangerous.
While Google flailed around with its own mobile payments system — which has been Google Wallet and Google Pay and Android Pay and I think Google Wallet again, and honestly who can keep track anymore? — Apple just relentlessly iterated on Apple Pay until it became both great and ubiquitous.
A decade after its launch, Apple Pay is about to become the perfect test case for the future of Apple. After the antitrust case in the US and a series of new rules in the EU, Apple announced that beginning with iOS 18.1, third-party developers will be able to enable tap-to-pay transactions in their own apps. Users will also be able to set a default app for contactless payments and change what happens when they double-click the power button.
MacDailyNews Take: We’ll stick with Apple Pay, thanks. It just works. It’s secure and it respects our privacy.
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