Apple Pay WILL Be Successful. Get Used To It.

I never cease to be amazed by supposedly intelligent, knowledgable technology journalists’ capacity to get things absolutely wrong. Although things have returned to sanity now, the first few days after the launch of Apple Pay saw all manner of tech pundits proclaiming its inevitable failure. They pointed to CVS and RiteAid turning off all their NFC (Near Field Communication) point-of-sale devices to prevent the use of Apple Pay, big retailers like Best Buy and Walmart proclaiming their refusal to implement Apple Pay and a host of other retailers who’d signed up for the (not yet released) MCX (Merchant Customer Exchange) “CurrentC” system.

What they didn’t tell us was 1.) most of the merchants who signed up for CurrentC didn’t do so exclusively or 2.) just how cumbersome the CurrentC transaction process will be for users. Details, shmeetails! Those pesky facts didn’t matter. All that mattered was telling everyone what a failure Apple Pay would be.

Fast-forward one month. Millions have activated and begun using Apple Pay. We’ve been inundated with hundreds of the most boring YouTube videos ever. You know, the 10-second clip of someone holding an iPhone 6 next to a merchant’s NFC terminal. That’s it! That’s all there is to using Apple Pay. While this may not make good video, it is a terrific user experience. It’s also wonderful for the folks waiting in line to check out.

Now, all the naysayers have mysteriously shut up. Good move. They were in danger of everyone discovering what a bunch of link-baiting scum they truly are. Maybe they changed their minds after witnessing (or, God forbid, actually trying) Apple Pay’s ease-of-use. Maybe they discovered how many millions of iPhone 6s have been sold and how many millions of credit cards have been activated on Apple Pay. Maybe they realized consumers would prefer an electronic payment system that keeps their user data hidden from retailers who can’t seem to avoid security breaches. Personally, I don’t give them that much credit. In a world where page views count for more than truthfulness or accuracy, they were probably just following their formula for success...

(1 post predicting demise of Apple product) X (3,000,000 Apple haters) X (0.01 percentage of literate Apple haters) = (30,000 page views) ...or something like that.

Everyone knows what an unapologetic Apple fan I am. So what? Why is that a bad thing? I love technology, so wouldn’t it logically follow that I like the company who’s stated mission is to make the best products with the best user experience? Some would call me nasty names like “sheep” or “blind loyalist”. Call me silly, but I think buying the highest quality products with the best user experience makes me “sensible” and/or “prudent”. In any case, my fanboy status doesn't prevent me from being objective. Besides, predicting success of an Apple product doesn't exactly require supernatural powers. It also doesn't get me that many page views. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to take solace in my prediction that AAPL would do well (and putting money on it). 

Apple Pay is no different than any other Apple product. It’s an elegant solution designed to solve the problems associated with electronic transactions. It’s fast, simple to use and protects my privacy. What’s not to like? If you’re Google or a retailer, plenty. Apple doesn’t share anything about their users with anybody. Every Google Wallet transaction replaced by Apple Pay is another piece of user data that’s unavailable for Google to sell. Merchants paid with Apple Pay can’t track who you are and won’t collect any personal or credit card data for their insecure system in an attempt to sell you more. So, what’s in this for Apple? They don’t know what you bought or from whom. They’re not in the business of sharing their user data with anyone for any price. Why would they provide something like Apple Pay at no cost to their customers? Because it adds to the long list of reasons to buy an iPhone. Selling iPhones is their business.

Why will Apple Pay succeed where others have not? Because millions of users like it. By this time next year that number will have grown exponentially. If there is one truth in this world it’s “capitalists act like capitalists”. One millisecond after a merchant realizes that refusing to accept Apple Pay negatively impacts the bottom line, said refusal will be lifted. That’s something the aforementioned pundits either don’t understand or don’t care about. It’s one of the beauties of capitalism. In a world where retailers compete fiercely for our business, consumers have the power to affect change. These pundits predicting Apple Pay's demise seem to think it’s the other way around. The reality is, there’s a Walgreens across the street from CVS, there’s a Target next door to Walmart and Staples is down the street from Office Depot. I think the virtues of Apple Pay will be enough to help many folks decide which way to turn their steering wheels. As the list of Apple Pay users grows, those decisions will be felt by retailers more and more.

Obviously, Apple Pay is a nascent technology. While unique in its approach to user privacy, it functions a lot like other NFC payment systems that have been around for a while, only it's safer and faster. Remember, the iPod wasn't the first MP3 player and the iPhone wasn't the first smartphone. With Apple Pay, Apple is doing what it does best, taking an existing technology and remaking it into something users love. When Apple Pay becomes ubiquitous (as I'm convinced it will), we will look back on today with our insecure credit card transactions and massive retailer data breaches and wonder how we ever managed to purchase anything so ineptly.

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