Author: Denny

While the service can be used at a physical store checkout counter, early adopters are using it as they shop over smartphones.

Mobile payments have been an area of considerable controversy, as some feel that this technology will rapidly take over plastic debit and credit cards, while others doubt that it will go anywhere because people are content with what they have, but where most seem to agree is that no matter the direction of the future, Apple Pay will be at the head of it – at least throughout the early years.

Now that the iPhone’s mobile wallet is available, the trends and potential for this type of service are becoming clearer.

So far, Apple Pay has shown to be quite popular among early adopters. The launch was fairly recent, as it occurred last October, and the number of people who have the necessary equipment to actually use the service is limited – as only the latest versions of the iPhone (6 and 6 Plus) are compatible – but so far, the owners of those devices who have enabled the service are using it. That said, they’re not necessarily making their purchases with their mobile wallets while in physical shopping locations. Instead, they are making m-commerce purchases with their iPhones.

This has caused many retailers to ensure that they have an Apple Pay option on their only checkouts.

Among those that have been benefitting from Apple’s mobile wallet is SeatGeek, a search app for sports and concert tickets. Its checkout screen has been updated to accept payments via iPhone and it has now seen an increase in its conversion rates by 30 percent. Those that have been specifically through Apple’s wallet have represented an 80 percent increase.

According to Jack Groetzinger, the cofounder of SeatGeek, Apple’s mobile wallet “is convenient in a physical store, but you’re never going to Wal-Mart because of Apple Pay. It’s a triviality.” That said, he pointed out that “But you are going to buy tickets on SeatGeek with Apple Pay in a case where you wouldn’t have otherwise. That’s huge.”

Indiegogo, the crowdfunding site, has seen a similar type of response, according to its chief executive officer, Slava Rubin. That site’s campaigns have seen conversion rates increase by 2.5 times when using the Apple wallet for the transaction. Rubin saw that type of mobile payments as an important opportunity for the site and has included it on the site since it was first launched.

Google could be looking for a way to be more competitive in the mobile field

Google may be looking for ways to better compete with Apple in the mobile payments field. The company made its first significant entry into the mobile payments field with the launch of Google Wallet in 2011. The Wallet was troubled by security issues in its early days, but went on to find modest success among consumers and businesses. With the launch of other payment services, such as Apple Pay, Google has begun to worry about its ability to compete.

Company may unveil changes to its payment service in the coming months

The mobile payments space is fiercely competitive, largely due to the huge companies that are investing heavily in their own dominance of the sector. Finding ways to compete in this sector is not easy, as most mobile payment platforms tend to offer the same features as one another. Google may choose to showcase its plans for the future of mobile payments at its upcoming Google I/O conference, which will be held in June of this year. If the company introduces any major changes to the Wallet platform, the event will be the most likely place to do so.

Analysts predict that Google will become bolder in the mobile payments sector

Analysts from Piper Jaffray are predicting that Google will take bold moves in the mobile commerce space. The company has not made reference to such moves yet, but Google has long held an interest in mobile transactions and engaging mobile consumers. With Apple Pay being a direct competitor to Google Wallet, the company may take steps to ensure that it can capture the support of consumers and businesses and make its own payment platform more attractive than those being offered by other companies.

No single mobile commerce service has yet become a mainstream success

Apple Pay has helped propel mobile payments into the mainstream, but the payment platform itself has not yet become a widespread success. Very few payment services have managed to find reliable support among consumers and businesses. Part of this is due to the fact that consumers can move from one payment service to the next, depending on what features they want to use at any given time.