Fortune, in reporting on Apple’s quarterly financial announcements, noted that Apple Pay volume is up considerably. Most of the 450% year-over-year increase in volume comes from new countries that now allow Apple Pay acceptance:
The number of Apple Pay transactions in the latest quarter rose 450% from the same period a year ago, CEO Tim Cook said on Tuesday during a conference call with analysts about his company’s quarterly results.
The likely reason: Apple Pay expanded to a number of new international markets in 2016. It is now available in 15 countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Canada, Australia, China, France, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, and Russia.
To help increase organic growth from existing customers, Apple highlighted the number of locations in the US that can now accept near field communication (NFC) transactions:
Cook also revealed on Tuesday that Apple Pay is accepted at 20 million locations worldwide, including 4.5 million in the U.S.
Of course the expanded number of NFC locations are not exclusive to Apple. They can also be used by other mobile wallet providers like Android Pay and issuers who might be considering contactless cards as a means of product differentiation, providing a faster and easier check out process for in-person payments.
Overview by Sarah Grotta, Director, Debit Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group
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