Forget the Apple Watch and iPhone 6. Apple Pay is Apple’s next biggest innovation, according to Advertising Age. The reason: Touch ID has the potential to finally push mobile over the hump in the U.S.
Mobile payments are fine, but every Starbucks has them. The revenue from Apple Pay isn’t a big play either — revenue will be comparatively tiny and it will take years for Apple Pay to be widely accepted. Far more intriguing is how Touch ID enables “one-touch checkout” and the mobile advertising that comes along with it.
Apple Touch ID has the potential to improve tracking, measurability and ROI significantly. With Touch ID, the buyer never leaves the screen to transact. But how do you get consumers to transact? The answer, according to McKinsey: You give them a special deal or offer — an ad. That closed closed loop is a huge opportunity for marketers to put ads in front of audiences who can quickly convert.
With an opportunity to join Facebook and Google, who currently account for two-thirds of the total online ad spending, the real payoff of Apple Pay is not retail, it’s mobile — buying on your phone vs. paying with your phone.