Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has announced that its mobile payment service Apple Pay is now in use at 2 million stores.
The launch of the payment service in these stores involves numerous merchants such as Au Bon Pain, Chick-fil-A and Crate & Barrel. The massive launch of the service in the stores is an indicator that merchants are starting to embrace the mobile payment service. The new 2 million locations are an excellent opportunity for Apple because they will push Apple Pay’s acceptance by more businesses, merchants and also individuals who are a bit skeptic about it.
The massive launch also represents Apple’s strategy in the rapidly growing and competitive mobile payment industry. Market researcher, TrendForce estimates that mobile payments will reach $620 billion, rising from the $420 billion recorded last year. Apple was also happy to announce that Internet retailer Zappos.com has also joined the action by adding Apple Pay to its iPad and iPhone apps.
Aki Iida, the head of mobile at Zappos stated that the retailer has been receiving a lot of customer requests to allow them to use Apple Pay. He also said that they decided to try it since the service showed a lot of promise towards improving the customer experience.
The launch of Apple’s payment service across the many stores comes in the wake of slowing iPhone sales, thus translating to lower income from the mobile division. The company hopes that revenues from Apple Pay will help stabilize overall income for the technology and software firm.
Apple Pay is rapidly expanding its services to other businesses including Kohl’s Corporation (NYSE:KSS), Best Buy Co Inc (NYSE:BBY) and Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX). The mobile payment service is currently operational in Australia, Canada, US and the UK. The expansion is an ongoing thing, and Apple’s next target is China. The recent update about Apple Pay indicated that the firm has surpassed its goal of launching in 1.5 million stores in the US. It also shows that the payment service is growing faster than anticipated.
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