Will Apple Watch Drive Payments Away From Paper And Plastic?
But the age of Apple Watch as a driver of wearable and alternative payments is still far off.
Although more than half of younger shoppers shoppers are already willing to use wearables to make in-store payments, we are still firmly in the age of the smartphone.
Smartphone usage is growing at a phenomenal rate, due in part to cheaper models being readily available to populous markets in Asia and Africa. At this time wearable technology like the Apple Watch is seen as more of a luxury add-on, rather than technology which serves a specific purpose and utility.
I have no doubt that Apple will continue to sell many watches, but this will not kick start an alternative payments revolution from cash and card.
While Apple Watch will certainly help move the needle towards device-enabled NFC payment in general, that concept itself might not ever surpass the card in your pocket. And if anything else manages to come close (at least in the near and medium terms), it’s going to be — as Wagner says — the smartphone that does it. Apple Pay has tremendous potential, but its Apple Watch implementation is not a game-changing improvement over the experience on iPhone, primarily because most people simply won’t experience it. That’s right: The majority of Apple consumers will never have an Apple Watch. While the wearable will sell extremely well, it will never displace iPhone as king of the mobile (everything) heap.