Too Little, Too Late? Apple Pay Heads for Nordic Countries

Apple recently announced plans to move its groundbreaking mobile payments system, Apple Pay, to the Nordic countries by the end of this year. The Nordic countries are Finland, Denmark and Sweden, for those not familiar with European geographical naming conventions. But given that Apple Pay is rapidly approaching its third anniversary, is Apple too late to the party it started?

A look at the world in which Apple Pay is available shows a world that’s fairly evenly divided. Much of the world above the Tropic of Cancer has Apple Pay, with some exceptions like the Middle East, Mongolia, and portions of eastern Europe.

Go south of that dividing line into Latin America and Africa and Apple Pay’s presence is more a theoretical construct than an actual thing that exists. Except for Australia, which is almost the lone spot of Apple Pay below the Tropic of Cancer. The Nordic countries were another exception to widespread Apple Pay accessibility until now. Here’s the problem: the Nordic countries have already embraced mobile payments…just not Apple’s.

Denmark, for example, went big on mobile payments as far back as 2013. Danske Bank rolled out the MobilePay system for Android, iOS and Windows Phone devices, a move which proved almost staggeringly popular. Over 3.4 million Danes signed up, which sounds unimpressive until you consider that there are only 5.7 million Danes to begin with.

The story isn’t much better for Apple elsewhere in the region: Finland has a growing fondness for contactless cards, while Sweden is only inches from becoming a fully cashless society. Cash transactions were just two percent of the overall picture back in 2015.

All of this adds up to what may be Apple Pay’s least impressive debut ever. It’s odd to see Apple Pay put in the position that it’s put so many firms who came after it in, but it’s likely to be a similar matter. Where so many other firms arrived late to the party after Apple Pay, and must content themselves with the last bits of niche market, now that shoe will be on Apple’s foot, a niche player in the market it basically helped create.

Apple Pay’s arrival in the Nordics, ultimately, may not be the celebration Apple was hoping for.