In Its Early Going, Apple’s Watch Appears To Be Giving a Modest Lift to Apple Pay

By Jim Daly

Ask owners of Apple Inc.’s new Apple Watch what they like about their high-tech wearable, and they put notifications and Apple’s health-and-fitness monitoring app at the top of the list. Coming in at No. 7 of their likes is the Apple Pay mobile-payments service, according to new survey results from Boston-based 451 Research LLC.

Making payments with a device other than a plastic card or smart phone may not be the top reason consumers buy wearables, but such buyers nonetheless by nature seem to be open to trying mobile payments. Some 39% of Watch owners surveyed said they had already used Apple Pay on their new device, and 43% plan to do so in the future. Fourteen percent had not only not tried Apple Pay but said they didn’t plan to use it at all, and 4% didn’t know.

“I would actually say it’s quite impressive,” 451 Research mobile-payments analyst Jordan McKee says of the Apple Pay usage. “Adopters of wearable technology generally are early adopters overall.”

Still, some 49% of wearers said they had not yet used Apple Pay. Conversely, 10% of Apple Watch users said they used Apple Pay daily, while 26% said weekly and 6% monthly. Ten percent claimed to have tried it once or twice.

The findings come from a July 27-Aug. 4 survey of 145 Apple Watch and 90 non-Apple smart-watch owners. The survey was part of 451’s ongoing ChangeWave Research service that explores trends in consumer spending and electronics, telecommunications, and corporate buying.

Asked what they liked best about the new device. 13% said Apple Pay, tying with likes for the Watch’s screen size and comfort. Notifications via email, text message, and calendar alerts ranked first, cited by 49% of Watch owners. Next was health-and-fitness monitoring, 41%, and the device’s aesthetics and design, 30%. After that was the Watch’s Touch Screen feature, most liked by 20% of users, followed by ease of use, 18%, and the user interface, 17%.

No Watch users mentioned Apple Pay when asked what they disliked about the wearable. Short battery life was by far the No. 1 dislike, cited by 37% of respondents. The Watch’s reliance on the iPhone was the second-biggest dislike, 31%, followed by lack of waterproofing, 25%.

Only 4% of respondents cited issues with Apple Pay when asked about problems they’ve had with Apple Watch. The biggest problem, cited by 29%, was lag time in scrolling and screen refreshes.

McKee says Apple Watch’s adoption will not match that of the iPhone, which continues to set sales records after eight years, but it is finding a responsive customer niche. “Generally speaking this [wearables] is a pretty nascent space,” he says. “I would say the Apple Watch is pretty successful.”