Dive Brief:

• Apple Pay’s much-anticipated launch in the U.K. Tuesday was pretty lukewarm, Fortune magazine reports.

• British users took to social media to mostly poke fun at the hype, express frustration that the payment service isn’t available through older iPhones, and complain about their banks, the magazine says.

• Near-Field Communications are mostly old hat in the U.K., and many Britons are used to paying by phone at many retailers.

Dive Insight:

Fortune’s tongue-in-cheek round up of the British reception to Apple Pay is worth a read — it’s both droll and informative.

The piece is another reminder that, while Apple Pay has been strong out of the gate when it comes to mobile payments, it could be a while before the practice really catches on among users. That’s true especially in the U.S., where use of contactless payments lags compared to the U.K. and elsewhere.

It may be that mobile payments have to be strongly perceived as more secure than consumers’ “top of wallet” credit card to outweigh the inconvenience of switching gears from using plastic to using a smartphone. Or it could be just a matter of time.