Apple Pay Still Not Mobilizing Mobile Consumers

Elvis Presley and Apple Pay have two things in common: an ability to set the tastes of a generation of Americans, and a desperate need for “a little less conversation and a little more action.”

Despite the fact that Apple Pay has managed to get everyone talking since its September release, six months later a little over two-thirds, or 64 percent, of Americans say they’d “never” or “hardly ever” use their cellphone to make a purchase.

That figure comes via CreditCard.com’s latest poll of consumers which indicates that most feel as skeptical about the mobile walleted future as they did before they’d ever heard of Apple Pay. If anything, it seems customers have gotten marginally less interested in mobile payments since September, when 62 percent were mostly uninterested in going mobile.

“The biggest obstacles to mobile payments usage are convenience and security,” said Matt Schulz, CreditCards.com senior industry analyst. Consumers are already comfortable swiping their credit and debit cards. “Most people don’t see why a mobile payments service would be quicker, easier or more secure.”

On the upside, the proportion of frequent users – who always or usually make use of mobile – has gone up to 17 percent from 13 percent.

The survey also found that mobile’s most likely users are Hispanics, young people and Southerners; whites, senior citizens and Westerners are the least likely to tap and pay.  Mobile usage seems to be evenly distributed among income and education levels.

The survey was conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International via landline and cellphone interviews with 1,000 U.S. adults living in the continental United States. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.