Apple Pay Making Plans for E-Commerce: Report

If Apple Pay has had trouble finding new markets overseas, perhaps it's no surprise that reports are surfacing of another new frontier: E-commerce.

Though Apple executives made no mention of such a development during this week's new iPhone reveal, tech news sites such as Re/code are reporting the potential Apple Pay move to websites as a place to utilize Touch ID authentication for one-touch payments.

Though Apple executives have often praised Apple Pay for its security, ease of use, bank and merchant support, it has struggled to gain support among consumers. Apple has also struggled to sign up as many international partners as it had lined up for its U.S. launch.

Re/code, citing anonymous sources, reports that Apple is approaching partners about a Web payment service that could launch before the 2016 holiday shopping season. The site speculates that Apple could reveal its plan at the annual developers conference this summer.

Such a move would bring Apple in competition with the payment brands that it counts on as funding sources for Apple Pay. Visa and PayPal, for example, have separately launched their own e-commerce buy buttons. Visa is even updating its Visa Checkout for touchscreen devices with a "card swipe" authentication feature that's reminiscent of an older Apple patent.

Technology sites speculate that Apple could embed Apple Pay into its desktop and Macbook computer designs.