Apple Pay Responsible for Two of Every Three Contactless Payments on Visa, MasterCard, and American Express

Since its introduction in October, Apple Pay has accounted for two of every three dollars spent through contactless payments on Visa, Mastercard, and American Express, according to Apple CEO Tim Cook who shared the information during the company's earnings call for the first fiscal quarter of 2015.

"Apple Pay is off to a very strong start," said Cook, adding that he expects 2015 to be "the year of Apple Pay." About 750 banks and credit unions have signed on to accept Apple Pay, and according to numbers shared by Cook, Apple Pay was responsible for 80 percent of mobile payments at Panera Bread, and at Whole Foods, mobile payments increased by 400 percent.

applepaytouchid
Earlier information has also pointed to Apple Pay's success. Apple Pay had more than 1 million card activations during the first 72 hours Apple Pay was available, and in November, Apple Pay captured a total of 1 percent of all digital payment dollars.

Thus far, Apple Pay has proven to be most popular at Whole Foods, with the speciality grocery store responsible for 20 percent of all Apple Pay transactions and 28 percent of all Apple Pay spending. Walgreens and McDonald's were also popular with Apple Pay users.

Apple Pay is still in its infancy, limited to the United States. In the coming months, Apple plans to expand to several other locations across Europe, Canada, and Asia. In the United States, Apple Pay now supports cards representing 90 percent of U.S. credit card purchase volume.

Related Roundup: Apple Pay

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro 34ths Perspective

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 10 New Features

Sunday March 23, 2025 10:00 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of March 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
Magic Mouse Green

What to Expect From the Magic Mouse 3

Saturday March 29, 2025 10:15 am PDT by
Apple is reportedly working on a new Magic Mouse. Below, we recap what to expect. The two key rumors for the Magic Mouse 3 so far include a relocated charging port, along with a more ergonomic design. It was briefly rumored that the Magic Mouse 3 would also feature voice control, but that was misinterpreted information. Relocated Charging Port While the Magic Mouse switched from...
top stories 2025 03 29

Top Stories: WWDC 2025 Announced, iPhone 17 Pro and iOS 19 Rumors, and More

Saturday March 29, 2025 6:00 am PDT by
Apple's big developer event is a little over two months away, and rumors about what we can expect to see in Apple's next major operating system updates are becoming increasingly frequent. A public release of iOS 18.4 is also imminent with a number of updates and improvements, although we won't be getting the major Apple Intelligence Siri upgrades that had reportedly been planned for this...
iOS 18

iOS 18.4 Expected Next Week - Here Are the Release Notes

Friday March 28, 2025 2:01 pm PDT by
With the second release candidate of iOS 18.4 that Apple seeded out today, the company finally provided us with release notes that give a full rundown on what to expect. There's an Apple Vision Pro app, new Apple Intelligence features for notifications and additional language support, plus an Apple News Food feature for Apple News+ subscribers, and several updates that should improve the...
maxresdefault

Apple Releases iOS 18.4 With Priority Notifications, Ambient Music, New Emoji and More

Monday March 31, 2025 10:03 am PDT by
Apple today released iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4, the fourth major updates to the iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 operating system updates that came out last year. iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 come two months after Apple released iOS 18.3 and iPadOS 18.3. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to...
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature Homescreen

Six Things to Know About Apple's Upcoming Foldable iPhone

Friday March 28, 2025 3:54 pm PDT by
We've been hearing rumors about a foldable iPhone for almost a decade now, but it looks like we might finally see the device come to fruition in 2026. We're going to be waiting many more months for the foldable iPhone, but so far we're hearing good things. Apple wants to make it creaseless. It's taken Apple multiple years to design a foldable iPhone that it's satisfied with because Apple ...
iOS 19 visionOS UI Elements

Apple Codename Provides Clue About iOS 19's Rumored New Design

Sunday March 30, 2025 6:40 am PDT by
Multiple sources have claimed that iOS 19 will introduce a new design with more translucent buttons, menus, notification banners, and more, and there is now another clue that points towards this glass-like appearance. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman today said the new design project is codenamed "Solarium" internally. A solarium is a room with glass walls that allow in plenty of sunlight, so this...
ipad pro 2024

Gurman: New iPad Pro and MacBook Pro Models With M5 Chips to Launch Later This Year

Sunday March 30, 2025 6:06 am PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPad Pro models with the M5 chip will "launch this year," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman said the new iPad Pro models have progressed to an "advanced testing" stage, and he expects mass production of the devices to begin in the second half of this year. If that timeframe is met, the new iPad Pro models could launch...
macOS Sequoia Feature

Apple Releases macOS Sequoia 15.4 With Mail Categorization and More

Monday March 31, 2025 10:04 am PDT by
Apple today released macOS Sequoia 15.4, the fourth major update to the macOS Sequoia operating system that launched in September. macOS Sequoia 15.4 comes two months after the launch of macOS Sequoia 15.3. Mac users can download the ‌‌macOS Sequoia‌‌ update through the Software Update section of System Settings. It is available for free on all Macs able to run macOS 15. With...

Top Rated Comments

SockRolid Avatar
133 months ago
Hey CVS: you s*ck. I used to let the cashiers scan the CVS loyalty program bar code from my iPhone's screen showing the CVS app. No more. If I ever do buy anything at CVS again, I won't be showing the app or my CVS card. And I'll pay cash so you can't track me.

----------

I wonder how it will be in countries where contactless payment is already pretty common.

On a lighter note: imagine the day when you can use contactless payment for a lap dance...

As long as the lap dance isn't contactless, yeah I'm all for it.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
lazyrighteye Avatar
133 months ago
Wow... 2/3.
I still maintain this one of the better, more strategic moves Apple has ever made. The potential benefits for their user base, their ecosystem, their product line, is nothing short of staggering.

Brilliant move. And it's just getting started.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
flyingember Avatar
133 months ago
As much as I like the whole NFC with Apple Pay I really think Apple needs to do something to push more to widen the availability. I know some stores might resist them, but I'm sure Apple can always kick in some incentives.

So far I have only used Apple Pay with McDonalds, Home Depot, and Walgreen. And I don't even visit any of them that often, less than once a month. It'd be nice if over here stores like Fry's Food or Costco will adapt them.

How is 200,000 more locations? Announced today.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mainstreetmark Avatar
133 months ago
As a society, or perhaps just as a country, the vast majority of transactions are still the "hand your card to somebody" type of thing. Every luddite i know fears Apple Pay - usually due to them not wanting to give Apple their CC# - but I do a pretty good job of defeating their fears by pointing out the afore-mentioned "hand your card to somebody" method used in every restaurant I know of. That is ridiculous, in this connected world. Also, Apple already has their CC#, much to their surprise.

But, Apple Pay fails to work at Home Depot (though it is accepted), usually works at McDonalds, always works at Firehouse Subs, and the rest of the time, I don't even bother trying anymore. Why isn't it, for example, at Gas Pumps - those absurd islands of user-interface from the 1980's. A printed receipt?! How quaint.

I also gave a bunch of money to OnlyCoin for some reason. They haven't bothered shipping a product in like 2 years, so money lost. And now that technology is outmoded already.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
peterh988 Avatar
133 months ago


On a lighter note: imagine the day when you can use contactless payment for a lap dance...
Our beggars have card readers in the UK, I guess they'll be accepting Apple Pay when its available here!

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/supertramp-mayfair-beggar-who-accepts-credit-cards-im-just-earning-a-living-9979657.html
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
GenesisST Avatar
133 months ago
I wonder how it will be in countries where contactless payment is already pretty common.

On a lighter note: imagine the day when you can use contactless payment for a lap dance...
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)