Apple Pay is gaining momentum in North America, primarily at the expense of PayPal. According to a new 451 Research survey, it is the top choice of mobile payment applications consumers plan on using going forward. Forty five per cent of the 4,168 respondents who took part said they intend to use Apple Pay – a five point jump since December 2014. Twenty eight per cent have their sights set on PayPal while 13 per cent are interested in Google Wallets.

"The introduction of Apple Pay has catalysed a wave of strategic moves across the mobile payments ecosystem,” says Jordan McKee, 451 Research’s senior mobile payments analyst. “In the wake of Apple’s entrance, Google and PayPal have made significant acquisitions, while players such as Facebook and Samsung are rolling out payment products to remain competitive. Moving forward, the pace of activity will only accelerate as vendors look to capitalise on the growing contactless payments infrastructure and secure a foothold in this rapidly evolving sector.”

Other key findings include: Respondents interested in buying an Apple Watch are twice as likely (54 per cent) as all other smartphone owners to say they’ll use mobile payment apps (29 per cent 'very likely' and 25 per cent 'somewhat likely'); The secure storage of financial account information (84 per cent) is the most important feature in a mobile payment app according to likely users, followed by widespread acceptance among merchants (70 per cent).

The survey also looked at overall consumer interest in Samsung’s new service set to launch this summer. Eight per cent of respondents say they’re very or somewhat likely to use Samsung Pay in the future. But that number jumps to 25 per cent among Samsung smartphone owners, and to 46 per cent among those planning to buy a Samsung smartphone in the next 90 days.

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