Apple Pay is about to get much better

Written by

Dave Smith, writing for Business Insider:

It’s no coincidence Jennifer Bailey was chosen to be the first woman to appear on stage at an Apple keynote. As the VP of Apple Pay, she’s in charge of Apple’s most important service, which aims to revolutionize how we pay for goods. And on Monday, Bailey explained how that service will continue to grow and improve.

First things first, I found that really surprising. In the entire history of Apple keynotes, not one woman has been on stage? Not one developer, not one marketing rep, not one product team member? Struggling to accept this as fact, but just the fact that I can’t easily come up with a specific counterexample does say something. [Pointed out by Twitter folks: Roz Ho from Microsoft is one counterexample. Surely there are more?]

But I digress.

Apple’s most important services are the ones that keep you in its ecosystem, and Apple Pay might be the ultimate example of that concept.

Exactly! As I’ve said many, many times, it’s all about the ecosystem. And Apple Pay is truly a linchpin here. This is a terrific read, really shows how much is happening in the Apple Pay universe.

UPDATE: Jeff LaMarche found this article, which adds Stephanie Morgan and Jen Herman to the list. With Roz Ho, that makes three, prior to this keynote. An amazingly small list. Tweet me @davemark if you know of anyone else.

UPDATE 2: I asked Heidi Roizen if she was ever on stage for a keynote (Heidi was Apple’s VP of World Wide Developer Relations from 1996 to 1997). Her response:

I was on stage at the 1996 WWDC announcing Apple’s $20 million app partner marketing campaign (that # seems so quaint now)

So that brings the number up to four. I am astonished that the number of woman on stage at Apple keynotes, prior to this one, numbers in the single digits. Incredible.



15 thoughts on “Apple Pay is about to get much better”

  1. Well that model was on stage to talk about her experience using the watch in the marathon.

  2. Not just one woman but two! Also two black men for the first time (Crake and Weeknd). And … two Canadians!!!! How’s that for diversity!

  3. Two things confuse me about Pay. I frequently have to type my PIN when I use it (always at Whole Foods) or have to sign at some places. I hit a McDonalds in an airport and it worked as I thought it should. I places iPhone near reader, put my finger on the iPhone, done. I always use a debit card.

    Shouldn’t it always work as I described it at McDonalds? Do you still get the security benefits if you are using PIN or signing?

    The only benefit for the user in the PIN scenario is the ability to get cash back.

  4. Walgreens is worse. Tap phone. Enter pin. Tell it you dont want to donate. Decline cash back. Accept total. Wait for machine to process.

    I don’t think they get the point of Apple Pay.

  6. Err, when I was VP of WW developer relations I was onstage at WWDC in 1996 to announce the $20 million developer co-marketing campaign I had pushed for. That number sure sounds quaint now!

  9. Well, Apple Pay is making it’s way to the great north. Just yesterday I was the second person to ever pay with an Apple Watch at the Starbucks in the Hotel Barinoff in Juneau, Alaska. You’d think with 13,000 tourists a day walking around the downtown, it would have happened more often.

    Luckily, I’m not a tourist. I’m hanging with the locals (my fiancé’s family) and seeing the real Juneau. Still, Apple pay in is quite a few place here.

  10. i think it’s pretty interesting that we needed to see some women on the stage of an apple keynote to notice that we only had seen so few there before.

  12. They didn’t do a very good job. The author totally missed Heidi Roizen and Roz Ho.

  13. Jesus Christ, who cares? Prior to Steve Jobs passing, the number of men who have appeared on stage was probably in the single digits. Tech is a male-dominated industry, so what?

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