Apple’s latest endeavor Apple Pay is one of the riskiest moves in the company’s history, but definitely not the first of a kind. Nevertheless, the first figures are in, and moreover, they seem very is promising.
During a conference held in the United States, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook shared that Apple Pay saw 1 million transactions just during the first 72 hours after its official launch in the country. As a result, the mobile payment platform is now even more popular than the already operating contactless payment systems used in North America.
Nevertheless, Cook also admitted that a couple of retailers have decided to block Apple Pay on the territory of their stores, disabling consumers from using it. However, he also explains that this “sabotage” is due to the fact, that the retailers in question were planning to introduce a payment service of their own. This means that the competition in this sector is already pretty tight in the U.S.
Even though not all stores are open to Apple’s mobile payment platform, Cook shares that 220,000 shops in the United States are currently using it. Consequently, Apple’s ambitions to roll out Apple Pay on the international market has become even bigger and bolder. The first stage of this plan will probably happen during the first half of 2015.
One of the first non-U.S. markets to get Apple Pay will probably be China. The country is an attractive market for technology companies since it is home to plenty of consumers who show great interest in new technology innovations.
As for the UAE, it is too early to say when Apple’s mobile payment service will become available. Nevertheless, some media reports say that Apple Pay can already be used on the territory of the country. However, in order an Apple device to accept a consumer’s credit card details, the card must not be issued by an UAE bank, but by a banks in the U.S.
