6 of Apple Pay's Growing Threats
October 30, 2015 10:27 AM
Xaume Olleros/Bloomberg
Apple Pay hasn't gone too far with consumers in its first year, but it has nevertheless established a solid footing with merchants, banks and two generations of its own handsets. And Apple has many powerful rivals that are eager to surpass it.
Bank Wallets
Some banks see Apple Pay as an opportunity, but others see its glaring limitations. JPMorgan Chase , Capital One and RBC have each built their own offerings to customize mobile payments for their customer bases.
David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
Android Pay
Google's Android Pay may be new, but it also benefits from the years of experience Google has from earlier products such as Google Checkout and Google Wallet.
Matthew Lloyd/Bloomberg
Samsung, LG
Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
CurrentC
MCX's CurrentC became a more serious contender when it won the a key role in JPMorgan Chase's wallet. And despite still being in testing, CurrentC managed to cause a few headaches for Apple Pay last year through MCX's early exclusivity agreements.
Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg
PayPal
Under eBay, PayPal had trouble expanding to mobile and brick-and-mortar commerce. But the independent PayPal operates in a different market, with more opportunity to bring its digital payment system into stores via consumers' smartphones.
Wearables
Apple Watch is one of the few mainstream wearables with Near Field Communication capabilities, but it's about to have company. Kickstarter-funded projects like the Kerv NFC ring or the Blocks modular smartwatch will promote wearable payments to those who do not want to base their wardrobe on Apple's product catalog.
