Apple Pay has the potential to be a game changer. It was by far the most interesting thing IMO to emerge from the recent Apple announcement. Recall that great hardware is often simply a loss leader for the transactions it enables.
Like a lot of people I love removing friction from transactions. I bought a Coin (possibly already extinct), love using things live Cover and Uber and pay with my credit card every chance I get. However — there is no doubt in my mind that the decreased friction increases my frequency of transactions. I’ve definitely found myself on Amazon buying things I don’t really need simply because Amazon and Prime make it so easy. I’m also extremely fortunate that I can afford to make some bone-headed purchases here and there and I’m also lucky that I grew up understanding the value of money and thus have pretty good self-control as to how I spend what I earn.
My concern with new technologies like Apple Pay is that while the financially fortunate relish making their lives easier (often by spending more to save more time) — many folks can’t afford to spend more. Period. People love to say ‘time is our most precious resource’ – but I believe that’s only true to an extent before there are diminishing returns.
Impulsive purchasing is a real problem for many and there’s no question it is exacerbated by making spending fun and (too) easy. Bored? A $2.99 game or new song is a click away. Hungry? Seamless web is so much easier than cooking. Just the ease with which we can evaluate and buy items on Amazon means we don’t need to wait for the annual shopping trip to the big city. Impulse buying and not bothering to return is like a new ‘breakage’ model. But really the concern with something like Pay with Apple is simply the potential scale. Most middle to lower income folks probably have never used the services I refer to above — but that’s at the app level. However, with Apple’s move to lower price point phones, and Moore’s Law, in time, IMO, anyone who wants one a heavily subsidized smart phone will get one. And assuming they have a credit or debit card, it could present a real problem.
It all makes you wonder: who ultimately bears the responsibility?
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