Mobile Payments – Apple’s Next Big Win?

In the tech world speed and ease of use is king and it seems that every new digital product is something that is going to shave a couple of seconds or minutes off our everyday task. Mobile Payments is a term a lot of us will have heard of but probably never seen in action, but this will definitely change over the coming months/years as competition for top spot is heating up.

There are a number of solutions out there and others on the way but I wanted to have a quick look at Apple Pay, obviously a company that doesn’t mess around when taking on new markets. We all may have heard about the recent launch of Apple Pay but what does it really offer in terms of improving our current chip and pin or wireless card payments we have already been using for some time now. Let’s have a quick look at what Apple Pay can do…

Essentially Apple pay is going to be the one stop shop where you can add as many payment cards as you like and pay for all manner of goods and services at the touch and beep of a phone.

Setup – Couldn’t be simpler, you add your card details to your existing Passbooks app on your IPhone 6 and boom! – Apple Pay is automatically set up for you.

How do you make a Payment?

When you are near a wireless payment device your iPhone 6 will automatically engage Apple pay, you don’t even have to load up the app! Once you place your finger on the Touch ID pad, your phone will instantly send your bank details to the payments device and hey presto,  you’re done.

Other payment features:

• Apple Watch: With a quick double tap onthe side button and by holding the face of the Apple Watch to the contactless reader you’ll receive a buzz from the watch to let you know the payment has gone through.
• In App Payments:Making it easier to load up on Candy Crush!
• Pay for TFL Travel: This is pretty cool… you can pay for all aspects of London travel with Apple Pay. Overground, underground and of course buses very much in the same way an Oyster card is used.

Security – A lot of people will no doubt will have serious concerns about how secure your bank details are. Well, Apple are claiming that this is actually a much more secure method of payment than handing over your bank card every time you want to make a payment. I’m sure it is, but part of me would feel a little uncomfortable, but this is probably no different to the feeling I get when making electronic payments over the internet. Call me old fashioned if you want!

Now this all sounds extremely convenient and of course with Apple driving this, I have no doubt it will be extremely slick and without a single hiccup. Of course, this is just one of the mobile payment solutions hitting the market along with Samsung, Google/Android – and many of the major banks developing snazzy new mobile payment solutions, so in months to come you’ll be spoilt for choice!

Mobile payment solutions are a huge area of growth and judging by the products already out there and those on the ‘assembly line’, it’s only going to get bigger and more accessible. My question is whether mobile payments really are a better service than wireless card payments or indeed pin card payments that the vast majority of us already use. Paying for goods in retail stores and online only takes a second as it is, can it really get any quicker or easier? A lot of the tech leaders out there believe it can… time will tell… but what do you think?

Kieren is one of our Directors. To see more about Kieren, including the posts that he’s written, you can find him on LinkedIn. You can also head over to our company page, where you can find all of our posts, latest jobs info, and daily posts to keep you up to date with the latest talking points in the worlds of tech and recruiting.