Apple Is Working ‘Rapidly’ To Bring Apple Pay To Asia And Europe
With Apple Pay launching earlier this week in Singapore, it looks like Apple will be continuing the trend as Apple’s VP Jennifer Bailey talks about Apple Pay’s future roadmap (via TechCrunch). Bailey notes that the company is pushing hard to expand Apple Pay into Europe and Asia.
As it stands, Apple Pay is available in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, China, Singapore and Australia. Apple has already stated that the mobile payment system is making its way to Hong Kong.
Jennifer Bailey goes into detail as to how Apple decides which countries to roll out Apple Pay to. The exec says one of the biggest determining factors is the penetration of Apple products within the country. Existing availability of contactless readers also play a role. Partnerships with American Express and Visa also help roll out support.
Bailey also mentions that Apple Pay paves the road for contactless payments as the U.S. has seen a large upscale in contactless payment sales since the service launched.
“[But] 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.”