Apple Maps suggests Apple Pay coming to certain Australian supermarkets

Despite Australia's advanced contactless payments ecosystem, we're still waiting for Apple Pay to officially launch around the country.

While indications point to a profit sharing dispute with the banks as the main hold up, some eagle-eyed Apple Maps users are hoping that we're about to see a shift in strategy from the tech giant.

First spotted by the Apple Community forum AppleTalk Australia over the weekend, the business listings for certain Coles and Woolworths stores around the country on Apple Maps were updated to show the Apple Pay icon.

In markets where Apple Pay has officially launched, that same icon is used to indicate stores that you can pay with your iPhone or Apple Watch.

Pay yesterday, free tomorrow

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this development is that only certain Coles and Woolworths stores showed the icon.

However, it appears that the references to Apple Pay have since been removed from those same business listings.

In any case, we've got our fingers crossed that these listings were the scouts of the impending Apple Pay invasion into Australia, and not just a glitch in the system.