“Is there room for another online payments processor? In 2013, eBay handled more than $125 billion in e-commerce outside of its marketplaces,” Adam Levy writes for The Motley Fool. “Apple may be the only company able to make some headway.”
“Apple has more than 800 million credit cards on file through its iTunes store,” Levy writes. “Comparatively, PayPal has just 148 million active accounts — some of which have bank account information, but most of which have credit card information. Having bank account information is valuable because it allows eBay to bypass the credit card companies and their fees.”
“Apple has more than 300 million iOS devices out in the wild, and consumers are using them more than any other mobile device to shop. That’s at least twice the number of active users compared to PayPal,” Levy writes. “Apple can take advantage of its control over those 300 million devices to make it easier for its users to make purchases on the mobile web. Its integration of Touch ID in the iPhone 5s may open the door for payments made via fingerprint authentication.”
“It’s worth noting that Apple doesn’t have to be profitable with its payments solution,” Levy writes. “Much like iTunes music downloads, which are hardly profitable for Apple, these services attract more users to its brand. If Apple breaks even operationally with payments, it could still attract more users to the iPhone and iPad over the competition.”
Read more in the full article here.
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I think Apple makes more money from iTunes and App Store sales and credit card processing than it lets on.
Of course, this is Apple we are talking about. I don’t think they know the definition of a loss leader.
Mmmmm lately i find payment with my appleid not very easy and seamless. Even when i buy an app, book or song i have to type my password several times, enter my security code if i buy from another device or from another location ( i have 4 ipads, 4 iphones, 2 appltv and live both in holland and germany).
Paying through paypal eg is much easier.
Security is good but this makes the process too complicated for daily use. So i dont think apple is ready for this.
Apple has more than 800 million credit cards on file through its iTunes store, “this is great and a lot of other things to tell the amazing Apple brand.