Only a small fraction of consumers have used Apple Pay, but a new retail report suggests Apple is helping move the needle forward on mobile payments.
In a survey of 1,400 US consumers, Chicago-based communications firm Walker Sands found that while only 4% have tried Apple’s payments technology, 18% of respondents overall and 36% of those who own iPhones said the introduction of Apple Pay has increased the likelihood they would pay with their phones in the near future.
Even Android and Windows fans are warming to the idea, if in smaller numbers: 16% of Windows phone owners and 8% of Android users admit they’re more interested in using mobile payments because of Apple.
“Apple has a proven track record of taking technology developed by others, and creating mass adoption,” Dave Parro, Walker Sands’ director of retail technology, tells Quartz. “You can never count out their powerful brand and fanatical user base. That’s what is driving so much excitement in the market right now.”
Competitors are not sitting idly by as the eyes of their customers wander. Google, Samsung, and PayPal have all made moves in recent weeks to revamp, accelerate, or enhance their mobile payments offerings. But for this sector to gain any traction, these companies—and Apple—will have to address people’s hesitations, which range from security concerns to a sense that current payment methods already get the job done, and persuade them to change their habits.
“Even with the seamlessness of an Apple Pay transaction, it still takes years to change behavior,” says David Robertson, publisher of the research publication the Nilson Report.