Apple eyes Apple Pay expansion into Asia and Europe, looks to roll out in 'every significant market

Posted:
in iPhone edited May 2016
Addressing this week's Apple Pay expansion in Singapore, segment vice president Jennifer Bailey said Apple is "working rapidly" to deploy the payments platform in Asia and Europe on the way to launching in every major market the company's products are sold.




That Apple intends to expand Apple Pay beyond its existing coverage area is a foregone conclusion, but beyond that the company hasn't offered any clues as to a near-term rollout strategy. Bailey shared a few interesting tidbits regarding future expansion efforts in an interview with TechCrunch.

"We're working rapidly in Asia and also in Europe, our goal is to have Apple Pay in every significant market Apple is in," Bailey said.

Singapore is one such market, and on Tuesday Apple announced a five-bank expansion that makes Apple Pay available to more than 80 percent of all Visa and MasterCard cardholders in the country.

Bailey did not comment on Apple Pay's next launch country, but she did offer details on the factors the company will investigate to make that determination.

"First, we look at the size of the market for Apple products. We also look at credit and debit card penetration, and contactless payment coverage," Bailey said. "When we bring Apple Pay to market even when contactless is low it will grow -- it was 4 percent in the U.S. but is now 20 percent. We also work with our network partners, where we can utilize integration with Amex and Visa, to go to market quickly."

Apple has gone the American Express route in a few countries, Singapore being a recent example. Australia and Canada also gained initial support through Amex, and CEO Tim Cook last October said Hong Kong and Spain are expected to do the same later this year.

As can be expected, Apple is in ongoing talks with partners and banks to further expand Apple Pay's reach, Bailey said.

After its domestic market debut in 2014, Apple Pay launched in the UK, Canada, Australia last year. Notably, Apple was able to bring its NFC-based touchless payments system to the massive Chinese market in February. Some three million cards were provisioned for Apple Pay in China over the course of just two days.

"From all indicators the launch [in China] has been really successful," Bailey said.
brakken

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 14
    misamisa Posts: 827member
    I've been using Apple Pay in Canada with the American Express, and I always get asked "how'd you do that?" by people who have smartphones.
    brakkenstevehjony0
  • Reply 2 of 14
    profprof Posts: 84member
    It really sucks that they're failing to properly speed this up worldwide. By the time we receive have Apple Pay in Europe it'll be mostly useless because all credit cards will have been swapped for contactless cards anyway.
    calirobertwalterlostkiwi
  • Reply 3 of 14
    tokyojimutokyojimu Posts: 528member
    In Taiwan, almost every shop uses contactless terminals and the cards issued there are all contactless, so Apple Pay already works on most of them. They just need to sign up the banks. Shop clerks are usually very surprised when I pay with my phone.
    calichiabrakkenstevehlostkiwi
  • Reply 4 of 14
    chiachia Posts: 713member
    prof said:
    It really sucks that they're failing to properly speed this up worldwide. By the time we receive have Apple Pay in Europe it'll be mostly useless because all credit cards will have been swapped for contactless cards anyway.
    Apple Pay is extensive in the UK.
    The UK is still a part of Europe even if it should vote to leave the European Union.

    The cards I use with my Apple Pay are themselves contactless but I find it's easier to use Apple Pay on the Apple Watch than fumble around with cards in the wallet.

    Also in the UK the contactless cards will be limited to a maximum of thirty pounds.  The merchants with the upgraded systems allow Apple Pay transactions higher than that.

    In any case there's the extra security of tokenisation which Apple Pay brings to transactions which the contactless cards lack.


    JanNLroundaboutnowlostkiwijony0
  • Reply 5 of 14
    cnocbuicnocbui Posts: 3,613member
    chia said:
    prof said:
    It really sucks that they're failing to properly speed this up worldwide. By the time we receive have Apple Pay in Europe it'll be mostly useless because all credit cards will have been swapped for contactless cards anyway.
    Apple Pay is extensive in the UK.
    The UK is still a part of Europe even if it should vote to leave the European Union.

    The cards I use with my Apple Pay are themselves contactless but I find it's easier to use Apple Pay on the Apple Watch than fumble around with cards in the wallet.

    Also in the UK the contactless cards will be limited to a maximum of thirty pounds.  The merchants with the upgraded systems allow Apple Pay transactions higher than that.

    In any case there's the extra security of tokenisation which Apple Pay brings to transactions which the contactless cards lack.


    I believe Visa and Mastercard introduced tokenisation in Europe  a year ago.  My bank cards are all Visa Debit so all contactless payments would be secure.  I use cash anyway, where possible.
  • Reply 6 of 14
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member
    prof said:
    It really sucks that they're failing to properly speed this up worldwide. By the time we receive have Apple Pay in Europe it'll be mostly useless because all credit cards will have been swapped for contactless cards anyway.
    Hogwash and poppycock.

    Just because Apple Pay hasn't arrived in your neck of the woods yet, that doesn't make the roll out slow.

    I am constantly seeing new articles about various banks in different countries being added to Apple Pay. Apple Pay seems to be chugging along at a nice pace.

    It's not like Apple can just flick a switch and voila!, Apple Pay is activated and live in all of Europe.

    It'll be there soon enough, and when it is, it'll still be the bee's knees.
  • Reply 7 of 14
    slprescottslprescott Posts: 765member
    Please ask Ms. Bailey, "What is Apple doing to accelerate the support from merchants in the US?"
    robertwalter
  • Reply 8 of 14
    prof said:
    It really sucks that they're failing to properly speed this up worldwide. By the time we receive have Apple Pay in Europe it'll be mostly useless because all credit cards will have been swapped for contactless cards anyway.
    I'd have guessed that the vast majority of people in Europe that would use Apple Pay would already have a contactless card wouldn't they? If contactless is the only advantage then why not just use your card? I suspect that contactless is really just phase 1, once PSD2 comes in, Apple/Google will become TPPs and offer bank-front services, that's when Pay becomes more interesting.
  • Reply 9 of 14
    brakkenbrakken Posts: 687member
    Yay! Can't wait!!
  • Reply 10 of 14
    chiachia Posts: 713member
    cnocbui said:
    chia said:
    Also in the UK the contactless cards will be limited to a maximum of thirty pounds.  The merchants with the upgraded systems allow Apple Pay transactions higher than that.

    In any case there's the extra security of tokenisation which Apple Pay brings to transactions which the contactless cards lack.
    I believe Visa and Mastercard introduced tokenisation in Europe  a year ago.  My bank cards are all Visa Debit so all contactless payments would be secure.  I use cash anyway, where possible.
    Presumably contactless cards have the thirty pound limit as they don't verify the user is the genuine account holder on every single transaction, i.e. typing in your PIN.  The manager of one of the branches of a UK bank let slip to me that their company's system routinely asks for the card's PIN code on every tenth contactless  transaction.  That implies the bank is willing to accept £270 (i.e. 9 x £30) as a maximum loss to fraud for a lost/stolen contactless card.

    In contrast the iPhone, thanks to Touch ID, and to a lesser degree the Apple Watch, verifies the user is the genuine account holder on each transaction, which explains why Apple Pay is viable for transactions higher than the thirty pound contactless limit.

    http://www.smartcardalliance.org/downloads/EMV-Tokenization-Encryption-WP-FINAL.pdf

    roundaboutnowpatchythepirate
  • Reply 11 of 14
    chiachia Posts: 713member
    prof said:
    It really sucks that they're failing to properly speed this up worldwide. By the time we receive have Apple Pay in Europe it'll be mostly useless because all credit cards will have been swapped for contactless cards anyway.
    I'd have guessed that the vast majority of people in Europe that would use Apple Pay would already have a contactless card wouldn't they? If contactless is the only advantage then why not just use your card?
    Apple Pay will still have the advantage of allowing higher value contactless transactions than those made with an ordinary contactless card. This is dependent on merchants, card processors and banks bringing their card processing infrastructure up to date.
    lostkiwi
  • Reply 12 of 14
    brucemcbrucemc Posts: 1,541member
    prof said:
    It really sucks that they're failing to properly speed this up worldwide. By the time we receive have Apple Pay in Europe it'll be mostly useless because all credit cards will have been swapped for contactless cards anyway.
    If you meant this to be a short sighted statement, then congratulations.  

    In Canada we have had wide spread contactless payments for a few years as well, with large portion of population having a supported card, and yet I find the convenience of Apple Pay on the Apple Watch to be significant.  I never take out my card now for these transactions - double click the button and pay.  At work I no longer take my wallet down the cafeteria or Timmies either - not necessary.

    In addition, Apple Pay may be used for in-app transactions (and rumoured to be coming in future for online browser transactions), allowing you to pay for a good online with only using TouchID.

    I am confident further features will come as well...but you are probably right and Apple will simply fail...because you are so insightful.
    chia
  • Reply 13 of 14
    latifbplatifbp Posts: 544member
    prof said:
    It really sucks that they're failing to properly speed this up worldwide. By the time we receive have Apple Pay in Europe it'll be mostly useless because all credit cards will have been swapped for contactless cards anyway.
    Maybe you all in the EU should start voting for legislators who aren't all about strict regulation and shaking down U.S. tech companies for extra taxes to make up for their budgetary shortfalls.
  • Reply 14 of 14
    lostkiwilostkiwi Posts: 639member
    Here's hoping they finally bring ApplePay to New Zealand.  We have the same banks as Australia (same company even) and they have ApplePay over the ditch.

Sign In or Register to comment.