It is the "year of the Apple to pay ', however, major retailers remain skeptical

In January earnings call with investors, Apple Inc Chief Executive Tim Cook made a confident prediction: "2015 will be the year of Apple pay," he said.

Since then, the company has aggressively courted retailers - and claimed significant success. "We've talked to all 100 major US dealers, and about half apple accept pay this year, with many more the next year," a company spokesman told Reuters recently.

But interviews with analysts, traders and others suggest that the prognosis for Apple might be too optimistic and that many retailers remain skeptical about the payment system.

The service is one of the biggest bets of Apple, a chance to tie customers more strongly to their phones and new smart watch and to take a small bite of each sales transaction.

To assess the progress of Apple, Reuters worked from the list of the top 100 retailers in the US National Retail Federation, which had inspected the 98 outlets of bricks and mortar (two of the 100 sold online only). Eighty-five supplied detailed answers, and 11 provided information only on whether or not to accept payment from Apple. Two did not respond.

While some of the top traders in the country said they use and like the mobile payment system, less than a quarter of the traders said Apple now accepting payment, and almost two thirds of the chains said categorically that there They accepted this year. Only four companies said they have plans to join the program in the coming year.

The main reasons cited by retailers not accept payment Apple customer demand were insufficient, lack of access to the data generated in the operations of Apple payment and the cost of technology to facilitate payments. Some traders said they were conducting out, and who plan to participate in a new mobile payment system to be launched by a coalition of retailers later this year.

A small but growing market

Reliable statistics on the mobile wallet payments are difficult to obtain. Or companies that offer payment systems or issuers of credit cards disclose detailed data on the use. But analysts agree they are used for only a small percentage of US retail transactions.

An online survey conducted by Wakefield Research Verifone and released in January 2015 found that mobile wallets accounted for about 4 percent of global payments market retail transactions in stores in the US

How the market is divided between the main players is not entirely clear. ITG Investment Research study conducted in November, shortly after the release of Apple's pay, it was found that the service accounted for 1 percent of pay digital dollars, while Google Wallet represented 4 percent.

Since then, analysts agree, the Apple market share of payment has grown dramatically. "In the last six months or so has not been accepting payment Apple," said Steve Weinstein, senior analyst at ITG internet. "Google Wallet has stagnated type out".

In January, Apple Cook, citing internal data, said Apple paid accounted for two of every three dollars spent on "contactless payments," but the company did not provide data to support those numbers.

Still, it's clear payment Apple has made considerable progress in registering sellers, with over 700,000 sites as of March 9, the last time Apple updated its figures, including self-service terminals such as vending machines, laundry and parking meters .

Interviews with retailers suggest that the company has relied on aggressive marketing to recruit participants. "They have been pushing hard and has been for months," said the representative of a store that does not have Apple plans to accept payment. "They called and tried to convince us even after our decision for them." The company has not taken pay Apple said, because even a "small percentage" of customers have requested.

SPEED COMFORT AND SAFETY

Many companies that accept payment Apple report that they and their customers are happy with it. Whole Foods spokesman Michael Silverman said Apple payment transactions accounted for 2 percent of its sales dollars from March and hopes to use to climb.

"Our customers are really enjoying the speed, comfort and safety of Apple, Pay" he said.

But for other retailers and consumers, Apple has yet to answer the question "what's in it for us if we use Apple pay?" Said Alberto Jimenez, program director for mobile payments in IBM, which provides technology to manufacturers retail and mobile wallet. Jimenez declined to say whether Apple is one of its customers.

The program does not offer loyalty rewards to customers, as companies like Starbucks do with their mobile applications, and provides customer information to retailers about Apple users pay.

For 28 retailers surveyed by Reuters, lack of access to data about customers and their buying habits is a key reason that Apple does not accept payment. "A major concern is the control of the data," said Mario De Armas, senior director of international payments in the world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

When a credit card slips through a terminal, the retailer gets the name and card number, which when combined with publicly available demographic data such as address, phone and e-mail, helps retail chains either send promotions oriented customers.

18 Wal-Mart and other major retailers are part of a coalition challenging Apple Pay with a mobile wallet called CurrentC, which is scheduled for release in mid-2015.

Retailers participating in CurrentC are not allowed to accept any other mobile wallet until 2016, according to a senior official of MCX, the company launched CurrentC. For that reason alone, 19 of the top 100 retailers in the NRF will not be able to accept payment from Apple before the end of the year, although three of them said they plan to accept payment Apple in early 2016.

Another reason cited by Apple not accept payment by retailers surveyed by Reuters was the cost of computer terminals and improvements necessary to accept a mobile wallet. "What is the ROI?" Asked Maureen Elworthy, director of treasury at Ahold USA, which operates as supermarket chains Stop & Shop, during a panel discussion at a conference Apple Paying the industry. "The [return] is negative," he said.

She told Reuters that Ahold USA no plans to accept portfolios, because they see it as an investment cost without immediate returns. The cost to merchants of accepting a mobile wallet is highly variable depending on what technology they already have in place.

Retailers face an October deadline to update their credit card terminals to accept cards with microchips, and new terminals typically also support contactless payments as apple pay.

But mobile payments also require back-end systems that can be costly, especially for a large chain of stores accepting multiple types of mobile payment systems, said Rick Dakin, CEO of Coalfire, a business security systems and infrastructure.

Apple declined to comment on the cost for retailers accepting payment from Apple, but spoke to Reuters Ian Drysdale, executive vice president at Elavon payment processor that works with Apple.

Drysdale downplayed the issue of costs. "While the retailer is updated with the new payment terminals that are enabled with contactless payment technology, there is little additional cost Apple to accept payment," he said.

Ultimately, the success of the Apple payment may fall to iPhone users as Scott Braeckel, an owner who has used iPhone 6 Pay Apple - but only once.

Braeckel said he liked the experience of Apple to pay, but you generally pay by credit card, even in places like McDonalds, which accepts the mobile wallet.

A study published in March by the buyer firm vision PYMNTS.com InfoScout and more than 1,000 users iPhone6 ​​found that while 15 percent of them had tested payment system, only 6 percent said they continued to use.