Apple Pay Might Be UK's First Big Mobile Payment Run

In less than a day, Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference or WWDC will commence. Of course, that means there's time for a last minute flood of what may or may not be revealed at the event. This latest one is quite some big news for Apple's fresh new mobile payment system. Sources claim Cupertino is ready to announce that Apple Pay will be landing in the UK this summer. While mobile payment in the US isn't exactly new, this is very big news for those across the pond.

The UK have been relatively slow to adopt this new trend in the industry, attributed mostly to squabbles between players and a general indifference from consumers. Although many carriers and banks have tried make inroads in that market with very little success. Apple might just have enough clout and ubiquity and popular support to succeed where others have not.

The spread of Apple products is undeniable, even in the UK. In particular, the iPhone make up a large bulk of smartphones in the country. The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have been designed with Apple Pay specifically in mind, endowed with the NFC chips necessary for that process. On the consumer side, they won't need any other device to make payments other than the smartphone they already have with them.

On the merchant side, the situation isn't as bad either. NFC terminals are already widespread in the UK, thanks to banks pushing for contactless debit and credit card payments. This is almost an ironic contrast to the US, where such terminals are still quite rare, which presents a major stumbling block for mobile payment systems. In fact, the UK is no stranger to Apple Pay already, with Transport for London supporting taking such payments, but only from American tourists.

One problem with the adoption of mobile payments is that most, if not all, efforts have been focused in the US, where there still exists some bit of resistance to the idea. Apple Pay's expansion in the UK might very sell serve as a proof of concept to see if mobile payments have a better chance of finding welcoming arms overseas. Apple definitely isn't the only one with that idea. Samsung intends to also launch its own Samsung Pay system Europe, China, Australia, and South America, though it's delay to September could cause it to miss key opportunities like this.

SOURCE: Telegraph