Author: JT

Apple Pay is beginning to establish a foothold among retailers in the US

Apple Pay is slowly gaining momentum despite the relatively large number of retailers that are simply not ready to accept mobile payments. Apple’s new payment platform is nearly a month old now and has yet to find the monumental success that Apple had hoped to see in a relatively short amount of time. Apple’s retail partners have been somewhat impressed with the payment service however, reporting an increase in mobile spending among customers.

McDonald’s reports significant growth in mobile transactions, thanks to the Apple Pay service

McDonald’s is one of the early adopters of Apple Pay, having deployed the service in 14,000 stores throughout the U.S. The company has announced that Apple Pay accounts for 50% of its mobile transactions. The number of people  making payments through the service at McDonald’s stores has been growing significantly over the past few weeks. Other retailers, such as Whole Foods, have reported similar results, with Whole Foods reporting that more than 150,000 mobile transactions have been made through Apple Pay since launch.

Retailers are looking for new services they can use to effectively engage mobile consumers

Retailers have shown strong interest in mobile payments for some time, but few have made steps to engage the mobile audience in the past. With the demand for mobile-centric services on the rise, retailers have been looking for platforms they can use to accommodate this demand. Apple Pay is a relatively new service, but has managed to help retailers engage mobile consumers and an effective way.

No lack of competition for Apple Pay

Apple is competing with several other large companies that have entered into the mobile payments space with their own platforms. Google is one such company, having launched its Wallet platform in 2011. Samsung recently unveiled plans to launch its own mobile payment service, which will initially only be available in the Asian market. Several small companies also offer mobile payment services, some of which are actually more popular than those offered by their larger counterparts.

This represents the first time that AR technology has been used for managing money in a smartphone application.

Westpac New Zealand has now announced the release of an original type of mobile banking app that allows customers to be able to manage their money through the use of augmented reality technology.

The application was made possible through an international crowdsourcing effort in the United Kingdom.

This crowdsourcing occurred through the Westpac Global App Challenge – UK. This augmented reality mobile app brought together a 3D technology with a simple platform that provided a new level of dimension to the user’s ability to manage money. Simon Pomeroy, the chief digital officer of Westpac New Zealand explained that the primary goal of the bank in creating the app was to make it easy to use for the average consumer.

The use of augmented reality is a unique one when it comes to this type of mobile banking experience.

Mr. Pomeroy explained that “Once the app is set up a customer only has to tap it open and hold their credit or debit card under the camera on their phone. They then have access to a number of features that use 3D to bring the information alive.” He also went on to add that the bank is devoted to simplifying the banking experience for its customers and that this is only one of a number of examples of the ways in which they are doing this.

He stated that “This is another example of how we are using customer data in a far more personalized and visual way allowing customers to better understand and get more out of their finances.” Using AR technology can make it possible for the bank’s customers to check on the amount that they have spent on their credit cards over the prior five weeks, as well as the due date of their credit card payments, their previous five purchases, and their Hotpoints loyalty card balance.

Westpac has also revealed that it is seeking to broaden its augmented reality capabilities so that it will be more convenient for customers to make mobile payments transactions when purchasing products and services.