A lot was revealed at Apple’s press conference yesterday. We learned about their new iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and Apple Watch. These goodies will be available September 19, 2014. Even U2 made a surprise appearance, giving us ‘Songs of Innocence’ for free, so long as you get it through iTunes. But there’s something else that caught my eye.
From here on out, when a purchase is made through an iPhone via debit or credit card, they get a cut from the banks and credit card makers. That way, they get their cut for the ever increasing market of smartphone purchasing. The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus will feature Apple Pay. That mean iPhone 6 users can pay with the swipe of their fingers. This can be done because major banks like Bank of America, Citigroup and JP Morgan are merging their cards into their system. I should note these terms aren’t official or public yet, but but this deal alone can give Apple a huge chunk? of the $40 billion a year made in mobile phone purchases. By 2017, that number is expected to balloon to $90 million. Apple Pay insists shoppers or merchants won’t be charged for this service. Although I do find it ironic neither Apple, Citigroup, Bank of America or JP Morgan refuse to talk about Apple Pay.
Why does this Apple Pay strike me so much? The way this industry is going today, paying with a smartphone is going be a more common aspect of daily life. I witnessed this myself when paying for cab fare, the driver hooked up his credit card reader to his iPhone and emailed the receipt to my phone. I could go on and on about the Apple Watch and the minimum $349 price, but stay tuned for that one. Do you think this potential Apple Pay system will make the new iPhones more or less attractive?