One of the reasons why Apple Pay has gotten the amount of attention it did is because not only is it an Apple product which generates a ton of interest on its own, but also its ease of use in which users just need to tap their phone against the payment terminal, hold their finger against Touch ID to verify themselves, and the process is done!
However despite the seemingly ease of use, it seems that it has been running into issues. According to research conducted by Phoenix Marketing International, they found that 66% of Apple Pay users encountered some kind of problem while using the service to pay for their goods. This was either due to the terminals not working, transactions taking too long to process, and the general inability of cashiers to help customers who needed assistance with Apple Pay.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Phoenix’s director of card research Greg Weed had this to say, “They’ve created demand, but it can’t be fulfilled. To make it more difficult to use or to create any uncertainty in your customer base as to whether it’s going to work is just going to slow it down.” This seems to lineup with an earlier report that suggested that 85% of iPhone 6 users who have yet to try Apple Pay.
Weed also suggested that updating the Passbook app frequently with support stores could go help with improving the service. “Since Apple Pay is still in an introductory mode and the NFC acceptance network still has a long way to go, adding a continuously updated ‘local store directory’ to the Passbook app is a necessary, short-term product improvement.” So while it looks like Apple Pay might have been initially heralded as the new standard of mobile payments, it seems like it still has a long way to go.
