Apple Pay – The next stage in smartphone evolution

Money in currency form might also disappear in the future, replaced by the phone or other wearable technologies like watches or glasses

With Apple announcing Apple Pay on Monday, it has now taken a step towards making the phone a credit card and a wallet too—the next big leap in the use of a smartphone as money. With Apple Pay, a man can walk into stores, buy something and pay by touching his iPhone.

Sure, it is currently limited to some establishments and financial networks, but the concept has been unleashed. It is only a matter of time before it becomes ubiquitous across all phones and countries.

There have been previous attempts to do this but when Apple enters the market, it usually means that the revolution has truly begun as the company holds the key to reaching out to most of the United States. As a New York Times article wrote, ‘Large tech and telecom companies like Google, Verizon and AT&T have tried for years to replace the traditional wallet with smartphone apps, having a click here or swipe there replace a credit card or dollar bills at the register. But commerce experts say they believe that the involvement of Apple, which helped revolutionize the mobile industry, could be the impetus that moves mainstream consumers to digital payments— the latest in an evolution of the way people buy goods and services.’

This means that it might be time to start saying goodbye to the credit card. At present, it’s the credit card number fed into the phone that does the transaction, but once you have done that, why would the card be needed? The number itself will be enough. Money in currency form might also disappear in the future, replaced by the phone or other wearable technologies like watches or glasses. Technology travels fast and in India too it won’t be too long before this is introduced.

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