Apple Pay Europe Expansion Tipped In Accidentally-Leaked In UK Job Listing

Apple Pay’s next destination is Europe. Following the mobile payment service’s rollout in the U.S., Apple accidentally leaked plans of its European expansion through a job posting on its website.

The listing, which has since been taken down, was seeking an Apple Pay intern who would assist Apple as it rolled out the mobile payment service to Europe and beyond in the Eastern Hemisphere.

“The new London-based Apple Pay team will work to drive the roll-out of this technology across EMEIA by working with a variety of internal and external partners, including teams in the US where the product will first launch and the EMEIA organisation, as well as Issuers, payment networks and merchants across Europe,” the posting on Apple’s website said. More specifically, the intern would be responsible for handling non-disclosure agreements and contracts behind the European rollout of the mobile payment service, as well as its expansion to the Middle East, India and Africa (hence EMEIA).

Apple Pay launched in the United States in October, enabling users of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus to make purchases with participating apps as well as in-store purchases using near-field communication technology. The company’s bank and credit card network partners have been promoting the service through TV commercials and promotions in the United States, but despite those efforts, uptake of the payment service has remained slow.

Adoption is expected to speed up in 2015, as merchants work to beat the October 2015 deadline to install “chip” EMV-compatible credit card readers in their stores, many of which have NFC capability built in.

About 36 countries in Europe already support the use of contactless cards in addition to accepting EMV “chip and pin” payment cards, according to IHS. And the wireless technology’s support many grow even larger in the coming years as MasterCard has mandated its merchant members to accept contactless payments by 2020 at the latest.