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Mercator announces free Viewpoint paper addressing Apple Pay, implications

'A Sleeping Giant Awakes: How Apple Pay Works and What it Means for Payments?' explains Apple Pay and explores what it means for the payments value chain.

September 11, 2014

After announcing the launch of Apple Pay this week, Apple CEO Tim Cook acknowledged that the company's foray into payments was an "entirely new category of service" for the Cupertino, California-based company.

Apple is entering a highly competitive business that Google, Softcard (formerly Isis Wallet), PayPal, and many others have been building, according to a news release from Mercator Advisory Group.

While these companies have a head start, it's clear that Apple's entry brings a strong new competitor into the mobile and digital payments space. It also raises a number of questions:

• how does Apple Pay Work?
• why is Apple getting into payments at all?; and
• what does this entry mean for others in the payments value chain?

In the seven-page document, "A Sleeping Giant Awakes: How Apple Pay Works and What it Means for Payments?", Mercator attempts to answer these questions, recognizing that many unknowns remain and more observation and analysis will be required.

Downloadthe free online Mercator Advisory Group on Apple Pay.