Cheers! Thanks for the hint (although as said not much use to most in this thread)! I need to get round to consolidating my UK banking situation. It's starting to get out of hand
Germany has seldom been at the forefront of tech and at the moment I'm ok with the boon solution (MasterCard) for Germany and my UK cards for the UK. I think the main argument for Apple Pay to start working here would be "Girocard kontaktlos". Most shops/stalls/ticket machines etc I know only take German Girocards (often I even still read "Hier zahlen mit EC Karte / KEINE KREDITKARTEN"!) and decline credit cards or other debit cards from abroad. Girocard acceptance is where a German Apple Pay would REALLY come in handy.
If I do see someone paying with card 99% of the time it's a Girokarte (and when I can catch a glimpse of the card most are from a local Volksbank/Sparkasse). If I or someone else do indeed pay with a regular credit card I have witnessed some shaking of heads or muttering in the queue. A credit card just doesn't fit into the "German payment vibe". Yet I still only use it for convenience and not to get stuff I can't afford. But the debt aspect still seems to be locked in peoples minds. Maybe even more so here in Swabia where cash, a contract with a building society and an expansive savings account is literally
holy.
But as we've discussed in this thread we still seem to be a long way away from Apple Pay Germany happening anytime soon.