As we reported last week, the jury is still out on the success of Apple Pay in the UK.
The best data available shows just 0.4% of journeys on London’s public transport are made using mobile payments. Apple is currently the only major player in the city, which means commuters aren’t bowled over by Apple Pay.
This is all despite big marketing efforts from all of Britain’s major banks to get the public excited about paying by their iPhone, with one notable exception – Barclays.
Barclays are an embarressment to themselves – missed promises on their delivery of Apple Pay again and again @Barclays #applepay
— Ian Tyreman (@Tyremani) March 29, 2016
@BarclaysUK Barclays CEO interviewed on the revised date of Apple Pay pic.twitter.com/fHZuZMyMKx
— Blowfish (@Jlodgey) March 31, 2016
To the frustration of Barclays customers up and down the country, the bank has failed to embrace Apple’s taken on mobile payments, instead promoting its own technology, known as BPay.
After intense pressure, the bank buckled in July last year and pledged:
“We are really excited about the launch of Apple Pay and can confirm that we will bring Barclays debit cards and Barclaycard credit cards to Apple Pay in the future”
In January this year, Barclays stated they would roll out the service by the end of March, and this was then confirmed by Barclays Personal Banking CEO.
But as the bank missed another deadline, customers took to Twitter to threaten to close their accounts:
@Barclays when will Apple Pay be up and running? It's honestly making me consider leaving #Barclays
— Mr Mqueen (@mr_mqueen) April 4, 2016
Nearly 12 months since the launch of Apple Pay in the UK, Barclays customers are still left in the dark. Responding to the customer backlash over the missed deadline, a Barclays spokesperson told The INQUIRER:
“We are really excited about the launch of Apple Pay and can confirm that we will bring Barclays debit cards and Barclaycard credit cards to Apple Pay shortly.”
In other words, Barclays continues to be the last of the big four banks to be left behind.
With new mobile-first challenger banks launching in a matter of months, Barclays better up its game.
The post Barclays misses Apple Pay target…again appeared first on The Memo.