Apple Pay just completed its first year in the market. Here’s an article that describes the product’s strengths and weaknesses so far.
http://techcrunch.com/2015/10/17/where-does-apple-pay-stand-on-its-first-birthday/
What struck me as most interesting is the aspects of user adoption that the article talks about.
Users Can’t Keep It Up. As everyday consumers have joined early adopters in enjoying Apple Pay access, usage rates have declined. The share of iPhone 6 users who say they use Apple Pay “every chance I get” has fallen from 48 percent in March to 33 percent in June, according to surveys by InfoScout and PYMNTS.com. What’s more, the percentage of people who say they “rarely consider” using Apple Pay increased from 17 percent to 23 percent over that same time period.
Every major commercial bank, vendors, and even credit card partners across the globe are increasingly adopting and offering Apple Pay. And yet, the user adoption rate is declining!
Does that make any sense? I have two explanations as to why this is happening.
Explanation 1: Changing user behavior is difficult
Time and time again, great ideas that see initial adoption from users die a painful death rather quickly (~1 year). This could be due to insufficient sources of revenue. It could also be due to the fact that users just aren’t addicted to this product. Getting users to change their behavior is difficult, and creating addictive products is doubly difficult. There are so many factors that come into play – emotional design (Google Nir Eyal/Dan Norman for this), network effects, and switching costs.
Having said that, if anyone has the complete picture of changing user behavior, it would have to be Apple.
Explanation 2: There is a major issue that needs to be resolved before Apple Pay can become omnipresent – Battery Technology!
If I were to own an Apple Watch, I would have a sub-conscious expectation that the watch battery will last forever. I am of the generation that owned Baby-G and G-shock watches growing up in the 90s. It almost seems unreasonable to have to charge my watch.
I believe that users never developed the same expectation (never having to charge) from their smartphones. Therefore, any product teams that launch products tied to a smartwatch have to be conscious and wary of how battery technology will affect user perception.
If users believe that they have to carry a back-up of their credit/debit cards despite having Apple Pay, they aren’t very likely to make a complete switch, are they?
Smartwatches have a long way to go to be completely useful and take over the smartphone market as the next personal computer.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this as well. 🙂
She behaves as if she was beautiful - it is the secret of her charm. 