Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s New Payment Method Is the Highlight of iPhone 6 Launch

Finally the day has come for one of this year’s most hyped event, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s big media event where the consumer electronics giant will be releasing its new products for the year. Among the most anticipated ones is the iPhone 6, with its new payment method, whereby users will only have to tap their screens to complete a transaction. Stuart Jeffrey, analyst at Nomura Telecom, discussed the prospects of the new product on CNBC earlier today.

“Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA) and Visa Inc (NYSE:V) are sort of $60-$80 billion dollar companies so the question is how much of that value can Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) capture. The merchants are not going to pay more so presumably they will have to try to get a little chunk out of the credit card companies […],” said Jeffrey.

Although a model of this feature had already been present in some Android devices, which enabled users to make this sort of payments, but restrictions involving the limited amount of stores where this feature could be used and also more importantly the feature didn’t redeem our wallets redundant entirely. We still had to carry other cards, like public transport cards, driving license  etc. with us. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) however, as the gossip on the street says, will make it possible to store all these on your phone.

Jeffrey also pointed out that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s sales have almost stagnated, particularly in Western Europe. He identified pricing as the main reason for this as the number of people willing to pay extra for a larger screen continue to dwindle. He predicted that in order to drive the sales the consumer electronics company might lower the price on iPhones, which could be selling in a $250-$300 range in future.

Although there have previously been considerable speculation about a possible release of an iWatch too, but it doesn’t seem to be in the cards, at least this year. An iWatch announcement, according to Jeffrey, will have to be made a long time in advance owing to engineering hurdles relating to user interface and apps which take some time to be resolved.

Disclosure: none