Apple on Thursday showed off thinner iPads and a new iMac with a high-resolution display. Sleek and stunning, yes, but not likely to spark the next iRevolution. The tech giant’s bigger strategic bet is that mobile pay service Apple Pay, debuting Monday, will be the next thing you didn’t know you needed — but now can’t live without.
The new iPads should sell well during the upcoming holiday shopping season, even as the worldwide tablet market is showing signs of slowing growth, analysts said. But they’re not the kind of game-changing new products that have made Apple a darling of Silicon Valley and the tech industry’s most valuable company.
Instead, the industry will be watching to see how consumers react to Apple Pay, which CEO Tim Cook said will go live next week.
Forrester Research analyst Frank Gillett says the service is “hugely important” because it puts Apple in the middle of a wide range of consumer transactions. That underscores Apple’s value as a brand and gives people a powerful new reason to buy iPhones, iPads and other gadgets.
Apple Pay is designed to work on the company’s newest iPhones, which contain a chip that allows payments at a special terminal in retail outlets. It also will be available on the new iPad Air 2 for online purchases only.
Mobile pay isn’t new; rival tech companies and the banking industry have worked on such systems for years. But Apple is launching its new service at an ideal time, says Gartner tech analyst Van Baker. Consumers are worried about the security of traditional credit and debit cards, and merchants are facing new mandates to switch to safer chip-based cards or other payment systems.
