There have been strings of double charges, happily fingerprinted purchases, turncoat merchants, a billionaire prospector and upward of a million of credit card activations in Apple Pay's journey to make CEO Tim Cook's vision of mobile payments a reality.
The newly launched system has had its share of critics as well as its ups and downs, but Cook remains resolute in driving adoption. He recently told the audience at a tech conference that Apple Pay welcomed more than a million credit card activations within its first 72 hours of availability and there's much more to be done.
"We've got a lot of merchants to sign up, we've got a lot more banks to sign up, and we've got the whole rest of the world. We're only in the U..right now," stated Cook. "We're just getting started, but the early ramp just looks fantastic."
Some analysts have cited the very real hurdles the system must overcome to burn bright -- hurdles that have kept Google Wallet and others frustrated. Others have wondered just how long Apple will push its payment system before banks and merchants seek to cut out the middle man in the process of paying for goods and services via mobile devices.
CVS and Rite Aid drew headlines when they shut off the near-field communication terminals in their stores, preventing the use of both Apple Pay and Google Wallet at registers. Meanwhile, Walgreens still supports Apple's one-touch payments system.
"Merchants have different objectives sometimes," stated Cook. "But in the long arc of time, you only are relevant as a retailer or a merchant if your customers love you."
Rite Aid and CVS are a part of an incoming platform for mobile payments that includes Bed Bath & Beyond, Best Buy, Circle K, Conoco, Dick's Sporting Goods, Dillard's, Fresh Market, Gap, Hobby Lobby, Kmart, Kohl's, Lowe's, Michael's, Old Navy, Publix, QuikTrip, Sam's Club, Sears, Shell, ShopRite, 7-Eleven, Southwest Airlines, Target, Wal-Mart, Wawa, Wendy's and more.
Known as CurrentC, the Merchant Customer Exchange's app is platform agnostic. Merchants can integrate the CurrentC payments platform right into their existing Android and iOS apps, providing the multiplatform and backward-compatible functionality that some companies lamented were missing in Apple Pay's exclusivly iOS universe.
Despite the criticism Apple Pay is receiving, Cook points to the rave reviews the virtual platform is getting.
"The feedback we are getting from customers and retailers about Apple Pay is overwhelmingly positive and enthusiastic," Cook stated. "We are working to get as many merchants as possible to support this convenient, secure and private payment option for consumers. Many retailers have already seen the benefits and are delighting their customers at over 220,000 locations."
