Apple Pay is everywhere. At least where I live. It's so ubiquitous that, these days, I only notice when the terminal is broken or I end up at one of the very few places that don't take tap... or plastic. That's not to say it's perfect — a few gas pumps still crash on tap, and a few coffee shops always error the first time only to work perfectly the second. But, in the vast majority of cases where it does work, it's idyllic and one of the most dramatic daily examples that the future is increasingly now.
Jennifer Baily, Apple's VP of Apple Pay, help drive that point and more home during her appearance today at the Money 20/20 conference.
Jennifer Bailey - ApplePay is 3 years old, and it is now in 20 countries covering 70% of card payments with 4,000 issuers #money2020 pic.twitter.com/TbkZG9UynsJennifer Bailey - ApplePay is 3 years old, and it is now in 20 countries covering 70% of card payments with 4,000 issuers #money2020 pic.twitter.com/TbkZG9Uyns— Jason Korosec (@thepaymentsguy) October 23, 2017October 23, 2017
That number includes Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), launching in a few days.
What's more, in areas where it's available, 90% of all mobile contactless transactions are conducted using Apple Pay.
The U.S. may not have the tap-to-pay penetration of Canada or some places in Europe, but Apple Pay is now accepted at more than 50% of all retail locations there, including 67 of the top 100 retailers.
Baily announced that Albertsons Companies, one of the largest food and drug retailers in the U.S., is rolling Apple Pay out to 2300 stores, including Safeway. Dick's Sporting goods is now live with Apple Pay in 675 stores. And Saks Fifth Avenue is in the process of deploying Apple Pay as well.
"Contactless tickets coming to all Ticketmaster locations"—Jennifer Bailey, Apple Pay #Money2020 pic.twitter.com/2nxKWVirqr"Contactless tickets coming to all Ticketmaster locations"—Jennifer Bailey, Apple Pay #Money2020 pic.twitter.com/2nxKWVirqr— Brian Roemmele (@BrianRoemmele) October 23, 2017October 23, 2017
Later this fall, person-to-person Apple Pay will also be coming to iPhone owners in the U.S. I've had the chance to try it at a demo earlier this month and it worked well. From my previous report:
You have to approve [person-to-person Apple Pay] first, so someone can't simply spam you with requests for cash and hope to trigger an automated response. (Sorry, colleagues who've tried!). Once it is approved, though, it works intelligently to detect potential triggers and offer itself when and as needed. For example, if one of my buddies messages me that my share of beverages is $42, iMessage could ask me if I want to send it to her right there, right then.Sending money is also a breeze. You simply tap it out in iMessage or tell Siri, Apple's intelligent voice assistant, who you want to send money to and how much. If and when you receive money, it goes into an "Apple Pay Cash" card stored in Wallet where you can quickly and easily buffer funds until you decide to make purchases or withdraw to a traditional account.
According to Baily, thousands of our Apple employees have been testing person-to-person as part of an internal beta already
Can't wait for that part to go global.
