Apple Pay Lays Claim to One per cent of Novembers Digital Cash

iphone apple payApple Pay was responsible for one per cent of digital payments by total cash value in November, a new report has revealed.

While the number may not sound impressive, for such a new service it represents a huge initial showing, especially considering it is only available to customers with the newest iPhones and only implemented in a small number of merchants at the moment. In comparison, Google Wallet, which was launched in 2011, accounted for four per cent of digital payments in the same month.

The findings, from ITG, also showed that 60 per cent of new Apple Pay customers used the service multiple times throughout the month, giving the new mobile payments solution a considerable advantage over rivals like PayPal, which only sees about 20 per cent of new customers do the same.

The most popular merchants for Apple Pay were Whole Foods, Walgreens, McDonalds Panera Bread and Subway, which altogether took 58 per cent of transactions, and 45 per cent of cash. Whole Foods by itself took 20 per cent of transactions, and an impressive 28 per cent of cash.

According to Steve Weinstein, senior internet analyst at ITG, Apply Pay could pose a major threat to PayPals current dominance of the mobile payment space, due to PayPals infrastructure limits and Apple Pays strong brand.