Years ago on this thread I was banned for my discussions complaining about "closed" ecosystem and how it harms Apple (I hold that position far less adamantly today). Looking at payments I think it is a tremendous advantage. The problem with closed systems is that, while they have advantages in letting "less bad in", they are also slower in having the bad that gets through discovered and fixed.
The reality is that people do trust Apple a LOT -- they like the brand, it is viewed as more secure and stable, and when it comes to payments I think people are interested in that. The operative word is "viewed". There's no doubt that customers view (perceive) Apple as more secure/stable, but objectively, there's no evidence that it actually is safer. There's a vastly greater number of iOS vulnerabilities listed on CVE versus Android, but that's not a fair knock on iOS because not all vulnerabilities are the same, so sheer count has limited meaning. You have to evaluate the details of the vulnerabilities and what allows them. You can get malicious apps installed on both iOS and Android, but it requires the user to take purposeful steps to allow them (compromising passwords, jailbreaking on iOS, removing default security in settings in Android). Few mention these nuances when discussing. I run into people who think you can readily download malicious apps on Android without explicitly altering settings to allow it. It's a false perception, but the perception itself hurts.
Not to say that the beliefs are that well-placed; I have a sense that iOS devices are more secure but I can't prove it; but I do think it could prove to give iOS a push that Androids didn't have. Exactly. The perception is the reality, though it doesn't always last when the facts don't support it. It is possible to hack both Google Drive and iCloud, but if people think that iCloud is safer, Apple can take advantage of this as long as the perception exists.
Circling back to payments... so I agree with you that Apple's perceived security will help them, but that's simply a marketing edge (which the clearly already have). I was asking about concrete advantages they could potentially provide. Real rather than perceived security, better card selection options, a more convenient interface, etc. I'm trying to discern what they could provide that the others haven't. |
