‘Magical’ – that’s how respondents to research by Wristly describe the process of paying with Apple Pay using an Apple Watch. But don’t let the headline fool you.
A survey of just over 1,000 Apple Watch users in the U.S. and U.K. by research firm Wristly, who specialize in the wearable sector, found that a supposed 80% of its ‘inner circle’ of Apple Watch users have used Apple Pay to make payments.
“What an incredible achievement in such a short amount of time – yes, 80% of Apple Watch owners who can, have already used Apple Pay,” enthuses Bernard Desarnauts, CEO and co-founder of Wristly.
More than half (51%) of the respondents described the Apple Pay via Apple Watch experience as ‘magical’, and 42% said it was ‘convenient’. Convenient is certainly is, with 81% using Apple Pay for everyday purchases such as groceries. In fact, most (86%) actively seek out Apple Pay branding materials when checking out at a store and 62% would prefer to shop in stores that use Apple Pay.
Wristly’s research found that only 19% of Apple Watch owners were yet to try Apple Pay, and of those only a quarter of them either had concerns or saw no benefits, suggesting that the rest were likely to try it at some later point.
However, Chris Burns over at SlashGear offers up some rather interesting observations that might make the 80% claim rather less magical. Just 190 of the 1,000 or so respondents had actually used Apple Pay with Apple Watch which, as Chris rightly suggests, is a rather small number of respondents. So, yes, 80% of Apple Watch users have used Apple Pay, but not all via their wearable.
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“While studies of this sort are interesting, the relatively small subset of respondents does require taking into account before too many conclusions are drawn,” concludes Chris. “Until Apple itself gives us some solid figures, it’s hard to know exactly how widespread Apple Pay is among Apple Watch wearers. That may well happen on September 9, when the Cupertino firm is expected to hold an event to launch the new iPhone 6s, among other things.”