Apple Pay Expanding to France, Hong Kong, and Switzerland

[MacRumors]

Apple confirmed during its WWDC 2016 keynote that Apple Pay will be expanding to France, Hong Kong, and Switzerland over the next few months in partnership with Visa, MasterCard, and American Express.

Visa and MasterCard will be supported in all three countries, while American Express will also be available in Hong Kong. The specific credit, debit, and prepaid cards that can be used in each country vary depending on the participating issuers listed below.

France

Participating banks and issuers in France at launch will include Banque Populaire, Boon, Caisse Epargne, Carrefour Banque, Orange, and Ticket Restaurant.

Apple Pay will be accepted at many retailers in France, including Apple, Bocage, Boulanger, Cojean, Dior, Le Bon Marché, Louis Vuitton, Orange, Pret a Manger, Sephora, and elsewhere contactless payments are accepted.

Hong Kong

Participating banks and issuers in Hong Kong at launch will include the Bank of East Asia (BEA), Bank of China (Hong Kong), DBS Bank (Hong Kong), Hang Seng Bank, HSBC, and Standard Chartered.

Apple Pay retailers in Hong Kong include 7-Eleven, Apple, Colourmix, KFC, Lane Crawford, Mannings, McDonald's, Pacific Coffee, Pizza Hut, Sasa, Senryo, Starbucks, ThreeSixty, and elsewhere contactless payments are accepted.

Switzerland

Participating banks and prepaid issuers in Switzerland at launch will include Bonus Card, Cornèr Bank (Cornèrcard), and Swiss Bankers.

Apple Pay will be accepted at many retailers in Switzerland, including ALDI SUISSE, Apple, Avec, Hublot, K Kiosk, Lidl, Louis Vuitton, Mobilezone, Press & Books, SPAR, TAG Heuer, and elsewhere contactless payments are accepted.

Article Link: Apple Pay Expanding to France, Hong Kong, and Switzerland

 

[MH01]

Welcome onboard. It's a great payment method

 

[iLoveDeveloping]

Still waiting in Ireland even though UK have it and Tim Cook said it was going here in an interview..

 

[Kapangas]

No word on Germany availability, huh?

 

[John Mcgregor]

No word on Germany availability, huh?

Germans like cash too much.

 

[gerhardb]

What's the reason that such a few countries in europe are supported? It is just UK und Swiss (CH) What about Germany? Does anyone know?

 

[Kapangas]

Germans like cash too much.

 

[Dilster3k]

Ugh, especially with the announcement that Apple Pay will work on websites now... I'm eagerly awaiting Apple Pay!!

 

[John Mcgregor]

I was surprised that many places don't take cards.

 

[gerhardb]

VISA, MASTER, AE - is everywhere in Germany accepted, so what.

 

[vatter69]

Germans liking Cash or not is not the issue. We have lots of these NFC terminals around. It's a matter of the VISA stakeholders to actually agree on terms with Apple - and it appears Apple is asking too much.

 

[John Mcgregor]

Still waiting in Ireland even though UK have it and Tim Cook said it was going here in an interview..

Use Boon. Think of it as a virtual prepaid card with top up. Plus much safer this way when it's not attached to you main account.
[doublepost=1465910898][/doublepost]

Germans liking Cash or not is not the issue. We have lots of these NFC terminals around. It's a matter of the VISA stakeholders to actually agree on terms with Apple - and it appears Apple is asking too much.

Seems unlikely. It's always Apple asking too much - bullsht.

 

[henryaaron]

Hong Kong is a great market. Plenty of contactless terminals, plenty of iPhones and a society that's into things like that

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

No word on Germany availability, huh?

That's correct.
[doublepost=1465911616][/doublepost]

Still waiting in Ireland even though UK have it and Tim Cook said it was going here in an interview..

At least we've got Siri support coming to the Irish accents in iOS 10. I s.hit you not. No store, but we get Siri support.

 

[RedOrchestra]

VISA, MASTER, AE - is everywhere in Germany accepted, so what.

Maybe in the south NOT so much in the North - and even fewer merchant contactless pay terminals.

In Berlin ... always, always, have a pocket full of cash.

 

[MLVC]

My hopes that it will be released in Holland (and other Eurozone countries) have increased a bit now France is on the list. Can't be that hard to roll it out to all the other Eurozone countries now. Hey, I can hope right?

 

[Mactendo]

Wish the rollout was faster...

 

[GenesisST]

Feels nice to have an Apple Pay thread without Canadians complaining!

... and I'm Canadian

 

[johnalan]

Still waiting in Ireland even though UK have it and Tim Cook said it was going here in an interview..

It just sucks doesn't it.

I've used my UK Apple Pay iPhone in Ireland no problem. Yet still no news of a rollout. So frustrating.

Either way the banks will be slow as **** to roll it out.

 

[Mike MA]

No word on Germany availability, huh?

I doubt any time soon...

 

[tmiw]

Feels nice to have an Apple Pay thread without Canadians complaining!

... and I'm Canadian

It's usually Americans complaining about our lack of contactless terminals in every thread, I find. Which is annoying when the thread isn't about America at all.

Anyway, it's kinda weird that AmEx isn't going to be supported in France and Switzerland. I get that it's probably not accepted in that many places there, but they do have a presence right?

 

[one more]

The participating banks both in France and Switzerland are the minor ones that were probably happy with Apple terms to get into some traction. It's a start, but they will need to expand their participating bank chains quite a bit if they want it to work properly.

 

[33man]

Germans like cash too much.

No they gave all their cash to Greece

 

[ginkobiloba]

"Participating banks and issuers in France at launch will include Banque Populaire, Boon, Caisse Epargne, Carrefour Banque, Orange, and Ticket Restaurant.

Apple Pay will be accepted at many retailers in France, including Apple, Bocage, Boulanger, Cojean, Dior, Le Bon Marché, Louis Vuitton, Orange, Pret a Manger, Sephora, and elsewhere contactless payments are accepted."

Oh wow... One tiny bank in the list, that's it. And stores where you would go once a year perhaps. Basically, ApplePay is not available in France.

 

[tmiw]

"Participating banks and issuers in France at launch will include Banque Populaire, Boon, Caisse Epargne, Carrefour Banque, Orange, and Ticket Restaurant.

Apple Pay will be accepted at many retailers in France, including Apple, Bocage, Boulanger, Cojean, Dior, Le Bon Marché, Louis Vuitton, Orange, Pret a Manger, Sephora, and elsewhere contactless payments are accepted."

Oh wow... One tiny bank in the list, that's it. And stores where you would go once a year perhaps. Basically, ApplePay is not available in France.

Apple Pay works wherever contactless is accepted. It's just that those "official" stores most likely don't have anything like the £30 limit the UK has. (Does France have limits for contactless?)