Apple CEO Tim Cook (pictured) sees mobile payments as an immature market, leading observers to conclude that the company is not planning its own move into it anytime soon.

Quizzed on an analyst call by Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray whether mobile payments was currently well addressed by existing services, Cook said: “I think it’s in its infancy, Gene. I think it’s just getting started and just out of the starting block”.

The analyst call followed the announcement of Apple’s quarterly results.

There is a long history of speculating about Apple’s intention for the mobile payments market, which extrapolates from the remarks by the company’s senior executives. This is the latest example.

Previously, speculation has focused, for instance, on whether the company would include NFC in the iPhone 5. It didn’t, but Apple did include Passbook, a wallet for users to carry loyalty cards, passes and tickets but which does not feature a payments capability.

The existence of Passbook has given birth to the idea that Apple is more likely to include a payments mechanism, such as NFC or a cloud-based alternative, in future versions of the iPhone.

Cook’s comments go against this theory, say observers. They obviously do not address the point directly but observers point to how Apple is rarely the first company to launch into a new market.