Apple ‘working rapidly’ to bring Apple Pay to more markets

Jennifer Bailey, VP of Apple Pay, says that Apple is “working rapidly” to expand the company’s mobile payments system way beyond the six countries it currently operates in.

“Our goal is to have Apple Pay in every significant market Apple is in,” Bailey said in a new interview.

Currently Apple Pay is live in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Australia, China and Singapore — with the latter market expanding its presence significantly this week so that it covers more than 80 percent of credit and banks cards.

Apple has announced that it plans to bring Apple Pay to Hong Kong soon, but no date has yet been revealed. Other markets likely to follow suit are France and Brazil, while India would clearly be another market Cupertino would love to crack.

“First, we look at the size of the market for Apple products,” Jennifer Bailey told TechCrunch, when explaining how Apple chooses its new markets. “We also look at credit and debit card penetration, and [existing] contactless payment coverage.”

While Apple Pay isn’t yet the dominant force that it could one day potentially become, Bailey says that she is “really excited about the momentum” it has gathered so far in markets where it is available.

Are you a regular Apple Pay user? If so, how have you found the service thus far, and what would it take for you to use it even more? Leave your comments below.

Luke Dormehl

Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.