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Apple Pay is Coming Soon to Austria, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Greece, Romania, and Luxembourg

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Apple Pay appears to be on the cusp of another European expansion, with upcoming availability in at least seven additional countries.

apple-pay-payment-800x403.jpg

Mobile banking service N26 today on its Twitter account announced that Apple Pay will soon be available in Estonia, Greece, Portugal, Slovakia, and Slovenia, one day after revealing that Apple Pay is coming soon to Austria. Likewise, ING Bank has announced that Apple Pay is coming soon to Romania.

Coming Soon! @n26 will bring #ApplePay, which is transforming mobile payments with an easy, secure and private way to pay that's fast and convenient to customers in Estonia 🇪🇪, Greece 🇬🇷, Portugal 🇵🇹, Slovakia 🇸🇰, and Slovenia 🇸🇮! pic.twitter.com/iWgyH7pBYA - N26 (@n26) March 27, 2019
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Hey André, it's true! 😊 Apple Pay will be coming to Portugal soon, please keep an eye out on our social media for further updates on the release! - N26 Support (@N26_Support) March 27, 2019
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Ne-ai tot intrebat "pe cand si la noi".Acum putem in sfarsit sa iti raspundem "in curand".#ApplePay #ingromania pic.twitter.com/SbyFWP2Quk - ING Romania (@ing_ro) March 27, 2019
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Slovakian bank Slovenská sporite??a confirmed that it will start supporting Apple Pay later this year, as reported by Zive.sk.

Apple Pay has been gradually expanding across Europe and the Middle East, including Belgium and Kazakhstan in November, Germany in December, and Czech Republic and Saudi Arabia last month. Apple said the service, which debuted in the U.S. in October 2014, will be available in over 40 regions by the end of 2019.

(Thanks, André and Aurel!)

Update: Apple Pay is also coming soon to Luxembourg via BGL BNP Paribas.

bgl-bnp-parabis.jpg

(Thanks, Eric Cancela!)

Article Link: Apple Pay is Coming Soon to Austria, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Greece, Romania, and Luxembourg
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2019/03/27/apple-pay-coming-portugal-slovakia-slovenia-more/
This is great. I travel frequently to Portugal and even though they have tap payments, Apple Pay fails more often than not. It’ll be good to be able to just carry my Watch or iPhone like I do in Toronto. Wallet Free since 2016.

Portugal has a very strong cashless culture with their bank machines a central part of every day life. Apple Pay will do very well there.
 
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soon ... means now 6 month to 2 to 3 years or never with apple, haha
so ridiculous.
anyways I want the comfort of paying with my phone or watch
 
Ok this is getting ridiculous. Like honestly, almost every country in the EU has or is gonna get Apple Pay besides The Netherlands, one of the biggest economies in the EU. What is the holdup? I’ve used Apple Pay using a workaround via bunq here in the Netherlands and have had zero places where I couldn’t use it, so that can’t be it. ING, which is a Dutch bank, supports Apple Pay in several countries so you already have two banks down here who theoretically could support it.
 
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Bram.96 said:
Ok this is getting ridiculous. Like honestly, almost every country in the EU has or is gonna get Apple Pay besides The Netherlands, one of the biggest economies in the EU. What is the holdup? I’ve used Apple Pay using a workaround via bunq here in the Netherlands and have had zero places where I couldn’t use it, so that can’t be it. ING, which is a Dutch bank, supports Apple Pay in several countries so you already have two banks down here who theoretically could support it.
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I'm with ABN AMRO and wallet is supported (for ages now) on all Android devices. iPhone not. Bloody joke, mate.
[doublepost=1553693607][/doublepost]Personally I think it's an Apple Greed problem. Banks here don't take too kindly to giving a cut to Apple and the Netherlands has the one of the best banking infrastructure in the world and we had PIN payments before most other countries.

Interesting article here about it:
https://www.nu.nl/mobiel/5623808/waarom-er-nog-geen-apple-pay-in-nederland.html
 
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This looks like a major push. Has ApplePay ever launched in that many countries at once in any of its expansions? Usually it’s a country or two.

I hope Apple Cash starts expanding too. Apple Cash setup popped up in my Wallet app in Canada during the last iOS beta and it’s still there, though I can’t finish the setup.
 
I understand that it takes time to set up all the financial details for something like ApplePay, but it is absurd that they didn't jump all over getting all EU countries set up, if not at the US launch date, at least within a few months. It has now been close to 5 years, just not acceptable. And Apple wants to be in the services business? Really?
 
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Applepay. Just another way for apple to get their grubby mitts into your wallet.

Paying for stuff the other way was just SOOOO hard. Thank god apple has come along to make our first world lives ever so slightly easier.
 
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I don’t get it. I’m using my phone to pay anywhere in Portugal that has contactless pay and excepts Visa. What am I missing?
 
It's a bit weird they would launch in Estonia, but not launch in Latvia and Lithuania. These three countries have almost the same banks.
 
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BigBoy2018 said:
Applepay. Just another way for apple to get their grubby mitts into your wallet.

Paying for stuff the other way was just SOOOO hard. Thank god apple has come along to make our first world lives ever so slightly easier.
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Apple Pay uses a device-specific number and unique transaction code. The Card number is never stored on the device or on Apple servers, and when paying for stuff, card numbers are never shared by Apple with merchants. It merely a secure shortcut to the card.
 
Bram.96 said:
Ok this is getting ridiculous. Like honestly, almost every country in the EU has or is gonna get Apple Pay besides The Netherlands, one of the biggest economies in the EU. What is the holdup? I’ve used Apple Pay using a workaround via bunq here in the Netherlands and have had zero places where I couldn’t use it, so that can’t be it. ING, which is a Dutch bank, supports Apple Pay in several countries so you already have two banks down here who theoretically could support it.
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The Dutch banks don't want Apple Pay in Holland it's as simple as that.

Partly because their own infrastructure with wireless payments is working 'well-ish' and is free for them in terms of handling costs and the adaption is big (with Tikkie, iDeal, their own apps), so it's not like other countries where they need Apple Pay to spearhead the wireless payment culture, because that infrastructure is long here.

Basically we're ****ed because we're so cutting edge with internet services in Holland.
 
Bram.96 said:
Ok this is getting ridiculous. Like honestly, almost every country in the EU has or is gonna get Apple Pay besides The Netherlands, one of the biggest economies in the EU. What is the holdup? I’ve used Apple Pay using a workaround via bunq here in the Netherlands and have had zero places where I couldn’t use it, so that can’t be it. ING, which is a Dutch bank, supports Apple Pay in several countries so you already have two banks down here who theoretically could support it.
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I moved from London last year to the Netherlands and it’s madness that it’s taking so long to have this here. I was so used to using my Apple Watch for all contactless payments. Maybe we’ll be part of the next round.
[doublepost=1553695720][/doublepost]
dz5b609 said:
The Dutch banks don't want Apple Pay in Holland it's as simple as that.
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Is this really the reason? Madness.
 
MY_USERNAME said:
I don’t get it. I’m using my phone to pay anywhere in Portugal that has contactless pay and excepts Visa. What am I missing?
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That means exactly what is in the tweet and in the macrumors article. That Apple Pay is coming to banks that operate in Portugal.

Sure you can already use Apple Pay in Portugal if you have it set up with a bank of another country. Portuguese merchants are migrating to contactless payments so if you see a contactless terminal you basically can use Apple Pay.

The news is about banks that operate in Portugal supporting it. Currently none does.
 
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Bram.96 said:
Ok this is getting ridiculous. Like honestly, almost every country in the EU has or is gonna get Apple Pay besides The Netherlands, one of the biggest economies in the EU. What is the holdup? I’ve used Apple Pay using a workaround via bunq here in the Netherlands and have had zero places where I couldn’t use it, so that can’t be it. ING, which is a Dutch bank, supports Apple Pay in several countries so you already have two banks down here who theoretically could support it.
Click to expand...
It's mostly a bank imposed restriction. In many European countries (I don't know about the Netherlands) several banks have their own Mobile Pay alternatives and as a result see Apple as a competitor. It also has to do with buying habits and commissions that banks collect.
 
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