Google also insisted on getting in the middle of the transaction with their Wallet, and if my understanding is correct the results basically ended up providing an inferior experience to merchants since the cards ultimately got recognized as card-not-present. Apple on the other hand worked closely with everyone in the chain rather than trying to muscle their way in. If you're a merchant, the difference between paying card-present and card-not-present is often around 1% (because CNP has a lot more fraud associated with it). Apple's use of tokenization adds more security as well - its just a better thought out system.
Having said all that your point about the launch country was also completely valid. Again, Google tried (IMO) to be far too arrogant for their own good.
In a lot of ways its similar to the 3G issues. Many dinged the original iPhone for launching without 3G at a time when that was cutting edge and not very well supported. Once the iPhone 3G came out, all the issues had been resolved and it was a very smooth experience for users (and had been done in close partnership with AT&T). Some other phones had loudly claimed 3G before then and often had frustratingly poor network connectivity, sometimes amusingly slower than the iPhone's 2G had at the same time.
System integration: its important in all sorts of areas.