New Study Shows Mobile Wallet Users Interested In Apple Pay
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
Apple Pay will outperform PayPal in mobile payments, despite some security concerns.
Some 45 percent of smartphone users who plan to use mobile payment apps in the next 90 days will use Apple Pay, , while 28% will use PayPal, according to a new study from 451 Research.
“Our latest survey shows planned use of ApplePay has been on an upward trajectory since it became available six months ago – with the service helping to spark consumer demand for mobile payment technologies,” explained Andy Golub, Survey Research Director for 451 Research in a press release. “Although consumer perceptions of security remain an issue, the results point to marked improvement in this area.”
This means that retailers need to be prepared to accept Apple Pay if they want to get the consumer business.
The survey also found that 25 percent of smartphone owners surveyed in March say they are "very likely" or "somewhat likely" to use a mobile payment app in in the next three months, according to Internet Retailer.
And security remains the top concern among users of mobile wallets, with 84 percent of those surveyed rating it the most important feature in a mobile payment app.
Two-thirds of users say they are “very satisfied” with Apple Pay, the survey says, compared to only 45 percent of PayPal users and 33 percent of Google Wallet users. And consumers using Apple devices are more than twice as likely to use mobile payment apps than those with Android OS smartphones. However, interest in the forthcoming Samsung Pay mobile wallet also reached 25 percent among current Samsung smartphone owners, suggesting that the new trend will be mobile payments.
“The introduction of Apple Pay has catalyzed a wave of strategic moves across the mobile payments ecosystem,” said Jordan McKee, 451 Research’s Senior Mobile Payments Analyst in a release. “Moving forward, the pace of activity will only accelerate as vendors look to capitalize on the growing contactless payments infrastructure and secure a foothold in this rapidly evolving sector.”
Among mobile payment app users, the secure storage of financial account information (84 percent) is the most important feature, followed by widespread acceptance among merchants (70 percent).