Who Do Consumers Love More: Banks Or Apple?

Despite the huge amount of Apple Pay buzz, most U.S. consumers still say they’d prefer a mobile wallet from their bank, according to a new survey of 4,200 U.S. households by Phoenix Marketing International.

When presented with an either-or choice, more than two thirds of those surveyed they would choose a mobile app from a bank instead of Apple Pay, Finextra reported. Almost as many — 65 percent — said their main concern was the security of their private financial information.

PayPal, mobile operators and Amazon also scored higher than Apple Pay in the survey. But 44 percent of smartphone users responding said they were either very or somewhat positive about it, with Android users nearly as likely to be interested as iPhone owners.

While security ranked high with respondents, only 26 percent said they would like to get personalized offers while shopping through a mobile wallet, and just 19 percent said the benefits of location services outweigh privacy concerns. About half said they were willing to use enhanced security features.

Another major challenge: Getting those who install mobile wallets to actually use them. A quarter of those surveyed already have a purchase app on their smartphones, but just 13 percent have made a payment. Even among millenials, where purchase-app installation rate is 43 percent, fewer than half ever use them.