Three weeks after the launch of Apple Pay, is the new system finally paying off?
Whole Foods, a high-end grocery chain, reports that its stores had over 150,000 transactions made using Apple Pay.
McDonald's, one of the early establishments to support Apple Pay, accepts the payment service in all of its 14,000 restaurants across the United States and says that the new platform constitutes 50 percent of its "tap-to-pay" orders.
Walgreens, on the other hand, notes that the use of the digital wallet has doubled since it was launched in late October.
Apple Pay initially had the support of more than 220,000 stores, which include Walgreens, RadioShack, Office Depot, Nike, McDonald's, Chevron, Champs Sports, Bloomingdale's, Aeropostale, American Eagle, and of course, Apple Stores.
Since it was launched, more stores have been added to its roster of merchants. Other than shopping, the payment service has also been extended to include parking and rent. More retailers will soon be added to the list.
Now almost a month old, Apple Pay is still far from being touted as a dominant payment system. However, the feedback from retailers shows that there is willingness from the consumers to replace the old cash and card system with Apple Pay.
Other major retailers across the U.S. are still unconvinced in adopting Apple Pay into their system. Toys "R" Us says that, for the past three weeks, the company has seen just a slight increase in the use of in-store mobile payments. One reason for the slow adoption may be the fact that most customers are still getting themselves accustomed to the new technology.
If there is one thing that is holding back the customers from using the system, it may be because Apple Pay is only applicable to users of the newly released iPhone devices.
Apple's integration with NFC technology has also increased those transactions that use the Softcard app. More companies are now looking to incorporate NFC into their business.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said that in the first 72 hours since the launch of Apple Pay, more than one million users had activated their credit cards through the new system.
