Apple CEO Tim Cook didn’t leave much room for imagination when he made a bold prediction in January: “2015 will be the year of Apple Pay.” But fast forward a few months and that doesn’t appear to be the case.
In fact, some analysts believe Cook’s prediction was too optimistic, Reuters reports. Reuters conducted a survey of the nation’s top retailers, and the findings weren’t so rosy. Almost two-thirds of the top merchants surveyed said they won’t be accepting Apple Pay this year.
Apple Pay uses a technology called Near-Field Communication (NFC) to enable iPhone 6 and Apple Watch users to securely pay for transactions with their devices.
Still, Apple claims the progress made so far has been a success, citing growing Apple Pay use among top stores. An Apple spokesperson told Reuters that “we’ve spoken to all of the top 100 merchants in the U.S., and about half will accept Apple Pay this year, with many more the following year.”
The main reason some merchants haven’t been accepting Apple Pay? Low consumer demand, little data access from Apple Pay users and cost of installation. Apple announced in May plans to offer a rewards program as part of Apple Pay, which could incentivize more users and retailers to use the service.