Apple Pay finally coming to UK, along with Spotify-alike Apple Music

The usual iOS and OS X updates, as well as watchOS 2 also revealed at WWDC 2015

Apple is finally making its Apple Pay contactless payment service available in the UK, announcing a July launch at its WWDC 2015 conference in San Francisco yesterday.

Eight UK banks, including Halifax, Natwest, HSBC and Lloyds, have already agreed to use the service, while retailers such as Lidl, Marks and Spencer, Boots and Waitrose are among a reported 250,000 merchants who will offer Apple Pay.

Transport for London has also signed up for Apple Pay, adding it to Oyster and contactless bank card payment.

It's an encouraging takeup from the UK after concerns that the service - which launched in the US in October 2014 after several months of delays - may struggle to pick up participating retail vendors at home, with the Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX) already attempting to gain ground with its similar CurrentC service.

Unsurprisingly, MCX members CVS Pharmacy, Walmart and Best Buy deactivated Apple Pay mere weeks after its launch.

Apple also used WWDC to address growing concerns over its outdated iTunes model, announcing Apple Music. While CEO Tim Cook described the new streaming service as "the next chapter in music", a feature list including tailored recommendations and promoted suggested music suggests Apple is simply trailing Spotify.

Much was made of "personal recommendations" over algorithms, but as Spotify already offers both features anyway, Apple has yet to prove how its new service will tempt users away from its established model. Apple Music will be offered as a £9.99 per month service in the UK, starting later this month on iPhone and Windows, with Android rolling out in Autumn 2015.

The service will also feature global, live radio broadcasts, hosted by ex-Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe and other personalities.

Mike Goodman, director of digital media at Strategy Analytics believes that, while Apple Music may not be particularly innovative, Apple comes to the field with a particular advantage over its rivals.

"Apple's biggest advantage over the likes of Spotify and Pandora is it doesn't have to make money from the service - in fact, it can afford to lose money, as long as it helps drive users to buy Apple devices," said Goodman.

"However, it's going to be very difficult to draw users away from the Spotifys and YouTubes if it doesn't offer a free service."

Along with watchOS 2, which will make app development easier for the troublesome Apple Watch as well as allow FaceTime and, erm, replying to emails - "a giant moment", said Cook - iOS 9 was also revealed.

The new iPhone and iPad operating system seems to have taken a leaf out of Microsoft's Windows book, adding a "multitasking" feature that lets two apps open side by side, with a split screen view, or picture-in-picture to, say, watch video in the corner of the screen while working.

The feature will only function on the iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 2 and 3, so be prepared to upgrade to attain this basic level of functionality.