Owners of the iPhone 6 registered more than 1 million credit cards on Apple Pay in the first three days the tech giant offered the service, Apple CEO Tim Cook said Monday.
Cook’s claims of the mobile payment system’s rapid pickup came after it emerged large retailers including Rite Aid and CVS pharmacies would not allow the payment system in their stores. Those companies offer their own mobile payment system. Cook described that decision as a “skirmish” and said he remained confident in Apple Pay.
“You are only relevant as a retailer or merchant if your customers love you,” he said, during an interview at a Wall Street Journal conference. “It’s the first and only mobile payment system that’s easy, private and secure.”
Apple Pay, which launched Oct. 20, works with the six largest credit card companies and can be used at more than 200,000 storefronts in the United States.
See the World Await and Celebrate Apple's iPhone 6
People pass time as they wait outside an Apple store for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus in London on Sept. 17, 2014. Lefteris Pitarakis—APPeople wait in line in front of the Apple Store in Tokyo on Sept. 18, 2014.Yuya Shino—ReutersA man sleeps in a tent in the queue outside an Apple store in London on Sept. 18, 2014.Justin Tallis—AFP/Getty ImagesA man wearing a replica of an iPhone 6 Plus model on his head yawns while waiting in front of an Apple Store in Tokyo on Sept. 19, 2014.Yuya Shino—ReutersA woman sleeps in a chair as she waits in queue outside the Apple store in London on Sept. 18, 2014. Justin Tallis—AFP/Getty ImagesA staff member removes a display poster of iPhone 5S at an Apple store in Tokyo on Sept. 18, 2014,.Yuya Shino—ReutersCustomers queue outside an Apple store in Hong Kong on Sept. 19, 2014. Xaume Ollerose—AFP/Getty ImagesKen Miyauchi Vice President of Softbank, Japanese mobile phone company and actress Sayaka Kanda, in a pink dress, react during a ceremony to mark the first day of sales of the latest iPhone 6 and 6 Plus at a store in Tokyo on Sept. 19, 2014.Shizuo Kambayashi—APAfter being first in line for 19 days, Moon Ray, from Jackson, Miss. runs the gauntlet of Apple store workers as she enters the Fifth Avenue Apple store in New York on Sept. 19, 2014.Peter Foley—EPAApple store staff high five customers as they enter an store in Tokyo on Sept. 19, 2014.Chris McGrath—Getty ImagesA man wearing a mask depicting Apple's co-founder Steve Jobs holds up a cardboard cut-out of Apple's new iPhone 6, as he walks into an Apple Store in Tokyo on Sept. 18, 2014.Yuya Shino—ReutersAndreas Gibson celebrates as he exits an Apple store in New York after being the first to purchase an iPhone 6 Plus on Sept. 19, 2014. Julie Jacobson—APJamael Ahmed jumps in the air as he leaves the store after being the first to purchase the iPhone 6 at Apple Covent Gardens in London on Sept. 19, 2014.Ben A. Pruchnie—Getty Images
