Apple's Tim Cook: 2015 will be the year of Apple Pay

During Apple's first quarterly conference call, CEO Tim Cook noted that the company's Apple Pay mobile payment platform is gaining recognition from more and more financial institutions and merchants.

Cook said that currently about 750 banks and credit unions support Apple Pay, and two-thirds of transactions generated through wireless payment platforms are completed through Apple Pay.

As for retail partners, Cook also shared some success stories. He said that Panera Bread, a national bakery and restaurant chain in the United States, said that 80% of its online payments came from Apple Pay. Whole Foods said that the use of its wireless payment channel has increased by 80%.

No one doubts that Apple Pay can provide a good experience for consumers, but some have expressed concerns about whether the service can attract merchants.

For each transaction generated through the Apple Pay platform, merchants must pay a 1%-2% handling fee to credit card companies. In order to solve this problem, Cook said that they have received responses from POS machine suppliers, who have expressed strong interest in supporting the Apple Pay system.

"The more merchants that sign up, the faster Apple Pay will penetrate the market," Cook said. "Given that we only launched this payment system in October last year, I was shocked that so many merchants accepted Apple Pay during the holiday season," Cook added.

He also pointed out that USA Technologies will embed Apple Pay into wireless payment terminals in 200,000 coffee machines, vending machines, newsstands, washing machines, parking lots and other self-service appliances. According to the Nielsen report, USA Technologies is the sixth largest POS supplier. The company has added NFC technology to its ePort wireless payment product as early as ten years ago.

Apple Pay made a strong start last year, accounting for 50% of McDonald's mobile payment transactions within weeks of its launch. Now, there are reports that the company is looking for opportunities to deploy Apple Pay in the popular fast food industry. In the automotive field, Chevrolet will introduce Apple Pay as another payment option later this year.

“2015 will be the year of Apple Pay,” he declared.