Tim Cook Is So Rich He Doesn’t Need Cash

As far as the whole world knows, Tim Cook is incredibly rich. But the funny thing about this fact is that he believes he doesn’t need his money. No, not in a way that he would forfeit his fortune for the good of the world. What he implies is that he doesn’t need cash and believes the world doesn’t need it either.

When speaking at a recent Apple shareholders’ meeting, he expressed his confidence that he will live long enough to see the eradication of money as we know it. According to Cook, there is no need to have paper or metal money, considering all the costs related to their production as well as printing of counterfeits, theft, etc. At this same meeting, Steve Jobs’ successor showed a true passion about the issue. Although Apple is not exactly known as a financial technology monster, the company has one popular service, known as Apple Pay. Using the service, people that operate Macs and iPhones can pay from their credit cards via their Apple accounts.

Cook believes that the company is capable of providing a simple, convenient solution that would eliminate the need to carry a bunch of cards. This hypothetical solution would be more secure, as it would also protect from many bad experiences, such as credit card theft. Apple’s CEO mentioned that Apple Pay was actually created to take care of these things.

Although Cook hasn’t exactly confirmed on the expansion of Apple Pay, his passion for the topic should definitely be taken into account.

A Gradual Outset

Apple Pay was first launched in 2014. At the time, the aim was to give people a possibility to pay for anything with their iPhones and not carry cash. However, as almost 4 years have passed, this vision hasn’t actually come to life, as people are still continuing to carry cash and paying with it, while feeling absolutely fine about it.

Moreover, according to a recent Loup Ventures’ research, Apple Pay is only used by 16% of active users of iPhone. And this is just 127 million people.

That said, Cook isn’t happy with how the service is doing at the moment. He expected mobile payments to actually kick-start, when the product was first launched. Instead, Apple Pay is dragging quite slowly, obviously frustrating the CEO.

However, even despite this daunting number, Apple did have some encouraging Apple Pay data milestones during the past year. The first is that over a half of US retail spots accept Apple Pay. The second point is that the number of active Apple Pay users doubled year after year.

Moreover, Apple’s product is incorporated in over 90% of NFC-technology tap-to-pay types of transactions. Another encouraging fact is that ¾ of those transactions are maintained overseas. That said, Cook hopes that Apple Pay will become a global service.

The Hope for Success

Although Americans weren’t quick in adopting Apple Pay, it has done much better around the world. According to Cook, there are a lot of countries that have already surpassed the US in terms of mobile payments. These countries are China and Russia, surprisingly. Cook also believes that another factor that could improve Apple Pay adoption is whether it’s possible to us an Apple Watch or iPhone to pay for public transportation in such places, as Japan.

In light of these facts, some of Apple’s most obscure decisions regarding Apple Pay begin to make sense. A lot of people are unable to use Apple Pay unless it’s supported by both stores and banks. Hence, much of Apple Pay’s success depends on deals allowing it to be used in such places as Starbucks, London’s subway, or gas stations, for example.

According to a Wells Fargo research paper, Apple Pay is available in 20 markets today. So, when such payment companies, as Clearhaus, announce that 26 more US banks or 5,000 new Scandinavian stores begin to allow Apple Pay transactions, it means that the amount of people that could use the service increases in those countries.

In addition, Apple offers various rewards and bonuses to draw people to use Apple Pay. Those, who use it now are able to get $5 gift cars or free delivery with such services, as Warby Parker and Postmates.

Also, Apple could have put one of the final puzzle pieces in place with Apple Pay Cash last year. It permits iPhone users to send money to each other, pretty similar to Venmo by PayPal.

It’s All about the Distance and Future

All of the abovementioned factors mean that Apple Pay is a long-distance product. Right now, it isn’t driving any essential earnings for Apple. And although it may never do it, the service is actually paving the way for something spectacular in years to come.