There was a time where any announcement from Apple was enough on its own to make the tech world shake with anticipation. Then, after the passing of Steve Jobs, that excitement seemed to cool – until now! The recent launch of the new Apple Watch and the iPhone 6 models have the tech landscape buzzing with excitement, and perhaps most importantly of all there are easy ways for businesses to leverage these new devices as part of a complete mobile monetization strategy.
The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6+ offer many of the same features as prior versions with the usual improvements to battery life, weight, processor power and so on. However, the most hotly anticipated part of their development is the creation of ApplePay, which allows consumers to use their cellphone at payment terminals in lieu of physical credit cards, magnetic strip scanners and penned signatures. The Apple Watch works in a synchronized way with the new iPhones and allows consumers to pay for things by simply tapping their watch against the payment terminal.
Just imagine how preposterous the idea would have been, even a few years ago, to suggest that millions of customers would soon have credit card swiping machines replacing their fancy wrist watches as arm candy.
For an industry that has already seen a massive spike in the number of customer transactions being processed from mobile devices, this added spur toward ease of use is destined to be a tipping point that puts mobile at the top of the payment pyramid on a global scale. Better, faster, more secure and simpler than credit cards, debit or ACH, the new wave of mobile payment possibilities promises to make impulse buys as seamless as any other part of the shopping experience.
Dozens of high traffic tech blogs are already touting the three different versions of the Apple Watch while others are fascinated by the new “phablet”-sized iPhone 6+ that is even larger than its Samsung Android competitors. Speaking of Android, Google and its partners can take credit for creating mobile tap pay infrastructure first, but what matters is when these services become widely accepted. To date the Android offerings were struggling to find acceptance, but ApplePay is already accepted at many leading chain stores like Macy’s or Walgreens and large banks like JPMorgan Chase are backing the idea with such high expectations that they echoed the Apple launch announcement by running informative ads for the service on the Chase.com home page the same day!
As usual, Wired has already done a terrific job outlining the technical aspects of ApplePay, and what many webmasters will want to focus on is the fact that these new devices are intended to become an even more integral part of our daily lives. Society has reached a point where even reaching into a pocket or pocketbook to find your phone is far too inconvenient for us. Instead, people will glance at the Apple Watch strapped to their wrist, giving a whole new meaning to being “always on.”
Now what we watch on an iPhone, can follow with us to the iPad, or head out with us on our watch as well. From a purely commercial perspective that also means nearly every person will soon be walking around with a payment processing portal strapped to their wrist. Just imagine how preposterous the idea would have been, even a few years ago, to suggest that millions of customers would soon have credit card swiping machines replacing their fancy wrist watches as arm candy. This move essentially accomplishes that, while creating a desire for it rather than pushing it as some kind of a requirement.
Judy Shalom is CEO of ADAMO Advertising.
