Instead, Barclays insists it will concentrate on the development of its own NFC payment technology, which is currently available inside the Barclaycard Android app. Google's operating system allows third-party apps to interact with the NFC chip inside many of today's Android flagships, which is something that Apple does not allow.

If you're an iPhone or Apple Watch owner and are patiently waiting for Barclays to switch Apple Pay live, which was meant to happen by March 27th, there is some good news. In an email, Barclays CEO Ashok Vaswani confirmed to Barclays customer Chris Leonard that the bank plans to enable Apple Pay support "soon" but "for a variety of contractual reasons" a definite launch date can't yet be confirmed.

If you're an Apple fan, don't fret, you won't have to wait long, but if you're of an Android persuasion, lady luck isn't currently on your side.