Apple's UK Pay Launch Omits Market Leader Barclays

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL)'s omission of Barclaycard from a list of cards supported by Apple Pay in its pending UK launch drew quizzical comment from at least a couple of observers Tuesday.

Apple said it will launch the service in July "across all of the major credit and debit card networks."

Barclays PLC (NYSE: BCS)'s Barclaycard accounted for 13 percent of the total value of all card transactions last year in the UK, according to a market research report by Companiesandmarkets.com.

Barclays was followed by Royal Bank of Scotland, with an 11 percent market share, according to the report.

"Barclays has refused to join in the fun," wrote Guy Daniels, a columnist for British-based TelecomTV.

Engadget's Matt Brian noted that Barclays said via Twitter on Tuesday that "talks remain constructive" with Apple on "how our customers could use Apple Pay" in addition to its existing mobile and payment services.

"It's a weird omission," Brian wrote.

Apple said at launch in the UK next month, At launch, more than 250,000 locations there will accept Apple Pay, "with support from many of the UK's most popular banks."

Banks will include First Direct, HSBC, NatWest, Nationwide Building Society, Royal Bank of Scotland, Santander and Ulster Bank.

Other major issuing banks will follow by this fall, including Bank of Scotland, Coutts, Halifax, Lloyds Bank, MBNA, M&S Bank and TSB Bank, Apple said.