A growing number of handset makers are incorporating mobile payment systems into their smartphones, yet Apple has seemed reluctant to dive in. A new report tells why company executives have chose to “go-slow”.
A report from The Wall Street Journal explains that Apple is deliberately holding back in the mobile payment arena as a result of “deep discussions” last year.
Apple announced the new Passbook app at WWDC in June. The app will be included in iOS 6 later this year. While the app is seen as Apple’s initial foray into the world of mobile payments, the system is far from offerings such as Google’s Wallet, and Microsoft’s announced system that stores credit card and other mobile payment information.
Apple senior vice president of worldwide marketing Phil Schiller has been quoted as saying that other digital-wallet services are “all fighting over their piece of the pie, and we aren’t doing that.”
Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster says that Apple is simply sitting back and learning from their competitor’s mistakes. “Apple is always a comfortable number two,” Munster said. “They let their competitors do their market research for them.”
It’s unlikely the company can ignore the mobile-payment market for long though. Research firm Gartner reports that the sector is expected to grow from $172 billion worldwide in 2012 to over $600 billion by 2016.