Apple Pay Attitude May Be Shifting In Australia

Apple Maps may have mapped out future plans for the international expansion of Apple Pay.

MacRumors has collected a number of instances from the discussion forum AppleTalk Australia showing that Apple Pay badges have been added to Apple Maps listings for certain Coles and Woolworths supermarket locations in or near Australian cities such as Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. Given that those badges are usually reserved for businesses that accept Apple Pay, these reported instances are either the result of a technical glitch or an early sign that Apple Pay is indeed going to roll out in Australia.

If it’s the latter case, that would mark a turn from reports as recent as August showing that Australian banks were — at least at that time — not particularly enthused about the prospect of getting on board with Apple Pay, due to concerns about the interchange rate, as well as banks in the country ceding a degree of control of their consumer relationships to Apple, among other issues.

The MacRumors story — while noting that not all Coles and Wooolworths Apple Maps listings in Australia currently show the Apple Pay badge nor do any such listings for large chains in the country like McDonald’s — points out that Australia is a prime candidate to adopt Apple Pay, given the wide adoption of other contactless payment technologies that has occurred in the country over the last few years, as well as the fact that many retailers that utilize Apple Pay in the U.S. and U.K. have a presence in Australia.

While Apple Pay in Australia remains a “maybe” for now, the service does appear set to make moves into other new countries, such as Canada and China.

To check out what else is HOT in the world of payments, click here.