The Business Times:

Apple Inc said its mobile-payment service is now available in more than 2 million retail locations, with merchants such as Crate & Barrel, Chick-fil-A and Au Bon Pain rolling it out in stores.

Online retailer Zappos.com added Apple Pay on its iPhone and iPad apps Tuesday as competition intensifies among mobile payment providers.

And:

“We’ve been getting requests from customers to use Apple Pay for quite a while,” said Aki Iida, head of mobile for Zappos.

“It makes the customer experience easier, why not try it?”

Apple is pushing to diversify, putting more emphasis on services, to balance the heavy investment in hardware.

In October, 16.6 per cent of people who own newer iPhones had tried Apple Pay, an increase from 9 per cent in November 2014, according to a survey by Pymnts and InfoScout, a consumer researcher. The service has been expanding globally.

Apple Pay was introduced on October 20th, 2014. Apple’s original projection was 1.5 million retail locations by end of 2015. The increase in retail locations is critical to user adoption. It’s a long road, but Apple Pay numbers are clearly moving in the right direction.