More iPhone 6 Users Are Making More Apple Pay Transactions, Report Says

Nine months after its launch, Apple Pay appears to be steadily establishing itself as an everyday service for consumers wielding iPhone 6 and 6 Plus smart phones. These users are increasing the frequency of their Apple Pay transactions as more consumers adopt the Apple Inc. device.

That’s the summary of Auriemma Consulting Group’s Apple Pay Tracker, which interviewed 500 iPhone 6 and 6 Plus owners in June.

The latest results show that 42% of them have used Apple Pay—the same as in February and April—but what’s changed is that more of the smart phones are in consumer hands and Apple began selling the Apple Pay-enabled Apple Watch. In the Cupertino, Calif.-based company’s fiscal third quarter, it shipped 47.5 million iPhones, a 35% increase from a year prior. Apple did not disclose Apple Watch sales volume.

“What’s interesting is that we have not seen evidence of people trying it once or twice and then abandoning it,” Marianne Berry, managing director of Auriemma’s Payment Insights practice, tells Digital Transactions News. “There’s a segment who are using it not terribly frequently, but are consistently using it.”

These consumers also are finding more places to make Apple Pay contactless payments. The number of users who used Apple Pay in more than six stores went from 13% in April to 24% in June.

That coincides with Apple’s recent announcement that Apple Pay acceptance locations are expected to grow from 700,000 this spring to more than 1.5 million by the end of 2015.

The number of stores accepting contactless payments also could increase with the expected debuts of the merchant-backed mobile wallet CurrentC, Google Inc.’s Android Pay, and Samsung’s Samsung Pay.

CurrentC’s exclusivity clause, which bars supporting merchants from accepting rival wallets, is expected to sunset next month, Berry says. “It will be interesting to see if any merchants, other than the ones who have already added Apple Pay, like Best Buy and Target, announce a willingness to accept it.”

Auriemma also intends to monitor Apple Pay activity made with Apple Watch devices. “It’s going to be a big factor in the popularization of Apple Pay down the road,” Berry says.

It’s not viewed that way now. She suspects the next version of the Watch will have more consumer appeal, “becoming less of a curiosity,” she says. Apple Pay users who own a Watch enthusiastically talk about the smoothness and frictionless qualities of making transactions with it.

Apple Pay’s in-app feature also attracts consumers, many of whom search Apple’s App Store for apps that incorporate it, Berry says. “It’s a rare instance of consumers starting out with a preferred payment method and searching for a place to spend it, like the proverbial hammer looking for a nail.”