[NewsPoster]

Transactions made using Apple Pay on their iPhones or Apple Watches by users globally amounted to $10.9 billion in 2015 according to recent reports. However, the vast majority of these transactions were made by customers using the contactless payments system in the US. While adoption of Apple Pay by US financial institutions and customers has been relatively rapid, almost the complete opposite is true of the six other countries where Apple Pay has been launched due to a range of issues.


Although loyal Apple customers have been quick to adopt Apple Pay where it has launched in countries including Canada, Australian, China, Singapore, Britain, take up has been limited as banks have been either resistant to its introduction, or the technical challenges have necessitated bespoke solutions to integrate Apple Pay with local electronic payment networks. In some instances, it has been a combination of both factors.

Apple VP for Apple Pay Jennifer Bailey recently explained that the delay in rolling out Apple Pay in Canada was the result of the country's unique payment system, which required Apple to engineer a compatible solution. "Payments in general is such a complicated system with so many incumbent providers that revolutionary change like this was not going to happen very quickly," Joshua Gilbert, an analyst at First Annapolis Consulting interviewed by Reuters.

Based on Apple's average cut of 15 cents per $100 transaction for Apple Pay, MacNN estimates that Apple has generated approximately $163 million in revenue from Apple Pay to date. With such a limited global rollout, it is clear that Apple stands to generate significant revenue from Apple Pay in the longer term. The service also offers not only convenience, but far greater security than standard card-based contactless payment systems.

[Paulrm]

I'd like it to be available here in Czech Republic. But, no such luck. On the other hand, we have "no contact" cards and "mini-cards" (which fit on a keychain), and just have to wave it at the machine.

[DiabloConQueso]

I suspect that's one of the main reasons for the slow overseas adoption of ApplePay: the US is just recently hopping on the chip-n-PIN and contactless payment methods, and has been stuck on the swipe-the-magnetic-stripe method of payment.

ApplePay is certainly a large step up from the legacy credit/debit card that you have to swipe, so people in the US are eager to upgrade to something more convenient and secure. Overseas, though, y'all have been paying with contactless methods for quite some time now so ApplePay is more of a side-step than a step-up, and, hence, not being as rapidly adopted.