Last week I looked at how mobile banking is giving traditional banks a run for their money. Pun only partially intended. This week I'm going to show you another area where phones are replacing the old-world – mobile payments.
If you've been using the internet as long as I have, you might remember days when PayPal was the most popular way to pay online. Although PayPal has an app, that's no longer the case.
It hasn't for a while.
Cash App, from Square, is now, and has been for quite some time, the leading mobile payment app. So far this year, Cash App was downloaded by 9.5M people in the US Across the App Store and Google Play, according to our estimates.
By comparison, rivals PayPal, Venmo, and Zelle saw 4.6M, 4.1M, and 3.2M downloads in 2022 in the US, according to our estimates. Only a tiny bit more than Cash App when combined.
Cash App's simplicity has made it an easy go-to for millions. And that's really the key here – simplicity.
Although Cash App is the popular choice, all other rivals have grown steadily over the last few years. Not as much, but each has a very powerful company (or bank) behind it, so I don't doubt they'll continue to grow. But they'll need to become simpler.
December saw a curious split: downloads dropped 2% while revenue sat at $1.3B. ChatGPT and TikTok dominated both charts as the mobile industry enters a new maturity phase.
Wall Street bet $2 billion on Polymarket, and downloads surged 1,172% in December. The prediction market banned in 2022 is now where Wall Street looks for signals.