Apple Creates The Weak In A Week

Recently, a new form of payment has been introduced to the world: Apple Pay. This is a “digital wallet” which allows people to make purchases with a single touch on their mobile devices. Although this form of payment has been around, such as the Google Wallet, Apple Pay has already dominated the mobile payments market in only one week. What makes Apple Pay so special and why has it already become the most popular mobile payments platform?

appley pay into

 

There are numerous locations that provide NFC (Near Field Communication) payments, and Apple Pay seems to be the easiest to utilize. Unlike other methods, Apple Pay requires consumers to only hold their finger on the mobile’s fingerprint scanner called the Touch ID. There will be no more of reaching into your wallet and trying to find a piece of plastic. Comparing to the Google Wallet, individuals are required to take a few more steps to complete the transaction such as entering their pin number. Apple Pay seems to be more convenient where it outperforms its competitors.

More to Apple Pay’s popularity is their secured system. According to NBC News, “The tokenization system built into Apple Pay is considered one of the most secure, fraud-proof ways to make payments, because it keeps consumers’ actual credit card data from ever entering a retailer’s point-of-sale system”. Furthermore, Apple Pay requires biometric verification to continue with the transaction. Security is an important aspect that grabs consumer’s attention. Since the hacking incident on CurrentC, one of Apple Pay’s competitors, people are starting to be very cautious on using the NFC payment method. Apple Pay is known to include a secured server that may even be safer than using credit cards. These key features of Apple Pay have brought its service on top within one week of their release.

As appealing as Apple Pay sounds, other NFC payment platforms provide more features that do not exist in Apple Pay. For example, Google Wallet is able to accept any type of major credit and debit cards. Apple Pay does not accept discover which limits their target market. Also, Google Wallet is also available in both iOS and Android devices. Using Google Wallet, individuals are able to send and accept money from others. With other digital wallets capable of much more features, Apple Pay still beats its competitors. Its feature of being highly convenient and secured has boosted up their amount of users. You now can understand how quality improves profitability.

Fulfilling customer expectations with the services Apple provides can gain additional sales. Apple Pay has also boosted up iPhone 6 sales, as it is only compatible with that type of device. Not only has its features bring in more users, but help generate more sales in the market. It’s clever to see how Apple Pay is also used as a marketing strategy. The creation of Apple Pay may be the beginning to a generation of solely mobile payments.

Do you believe that Apple Pay will remain on top of its competitors? How much longer?
As an Apple user, I may come out biased on over-crediting Apple Pay. Do you believe their service is superior to others?

Sources:

http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/gadgets/can-apple-win-mobile-wallet-war-n240011

http://bgr.com/2014/10/28/apple-pay-vs-nfc-competition/

(Virtual) Food For Thought: Virtual Supermarkets

During this day and age, there are two main themes behind our technological advances as a human race: innovation and convenience. Almost everything is available via the Internet and accessible with our computers or smart phones. We can shop for clothes, order dinner, pay our bills, and do a lot more using our handheld devices. The newest addition to our already impressive lineup is a virtual supermarket. I know what you’re wondering, does this mean I will have to eat virtual food? The answer is no, virtual supermarkets have the same end goal as ordinary grocery stores: you get your produce in your fridge as expected.

Virtual supermarkets started in Japan and South Korea by Tesco Homeplus, a British grocery company. They are strategically located in subway stations alongside the walls and are set up as regular grocery stores, but instead of actual products, there are pictures of the items with a QR code beneath them. Users scan the QR codes with their smart phones and add the items to a virtual shopping cart. Once all of the products are in the cart, the shopper places the order and is charged through their credit card. The groceries then arrive at the person’s doorstep the next day. Virtual supermarkets eliminate the hassle of actually visiting a grocery store, physically carrying the items, and they also save a lot of time for shoppers.

The U.S. has caught on to the craze by introducing virtual supermarkets in Chicago, Boston, New York, and other major metropolitan areas. Peapod, a U.S. grocery company, has taken the initiative by setting up  virtual supermarkets in subway stations just like Japan and South Korea. So far, there has been positive feedback from the younger generation, but  older people prefer to physically visit the stores. This shows that we are truly in an age of innovation and convenience, or that we have become extremely lazy.

An advantage that virtual supermarkets have from an operations management perspective is the management of inventory. By not having the inventory physically present, the products won’t sit on the shelves and companies can place orders for certain items based on the online demand, eliminating backlog.

I believe that having virtual supermarkets is a step forward in the right direction, but this step lacks some benefits that are present when physically being in a store. When I was younger, I used to always accompany my mom to the grocery store and she would tell me how to pick out the ripe fruits, or how to tell similar vegetables apart. She knew exactly what she was getting by touching and feeling the products. Another missing component to virtual grocery shopping is taste-testing the food. Many times we are not certain about what to buy and by trying a sample, we decide whether or not to purchase the product. That is one advantage that places like Costco will have over virtual supermarkets.

Virtual supermarkets define innovation and convenience, but are not for everyone. Would you ever consider using one, and if so, do you see virtual supermarkets replacing physical grocery stores in the future?

Sources:

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/virtual-grocery-shopping-and-v-158354

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/01/peapod-virtual-grocery-st_n_1929756.html

http://www.zdnet.com/virtual-supermarket-shopping-with-a-smartphone-4010022941/