Apple Pay Launches in Israel

[MacRumors]

As reported by local outlet The Verifier, Apple Pay has officially launched in Israel following multiple reports suggesting an imminent launch sometime this year.

Ever since its launch in the United States in 2014, Apple Pay has slowly expanded to more countries worldwide while at the same time expanding the list of financial institutions that support the feature. With Apple Pay, users can easily add their credit or debit cards from supported banks to their iPhone and Apple Watch to make purchases at contactless payment terminals around the world. Apple Pay is also available on the Mac for web purchases.

At launch, there may be some banks that don't yet have support for Apple Pay; however, the list of supported banks will grow with time. Users can add a card to Apple Pay by heading over to the Wallet app on iPhone, pressing the plus button in the top-right hand corner, and following the on-screen prompts.

Article Link: Apple Pay Launches in Israel

 

[EvilEvil]

It's crazy it took this long.

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Wow! didn't expect to take it this long.

 

[Kierkegaarden]

That was quick!

 

[gnasher729]

Should be made clear: Apple Pay always worked in Israel (it always worked anywhere that had contactless debit or credit cards). What's new is that it works if you have a card issued in Israel by an Israeli bank. So it always worked for Americans, Brits etc. travelling to Israel.

It's crazy it took this long.

If you are a bank in Israel, it doesn't give you any competitive advantage to support Apple Pay. Until the first bank in the country adopts it. Then you are in danger of losing customers to that bank, so suddenly all the other banks are keen to support ApplePay as well. Apple has to convince ONE bank in a country.

 

[aliea13]

It's crazy it took this long.

The problem was not in Apple or the banks but rather in the very ancient credit card infrastructure in vast majority of shops

 

[Retryc]

It's crazy it took this long.

Still not available in the UK.

 

[Retryc]

Still not available in the UK.

Oops - wrong meant Apple Card not available.

 

[murad_fourth]

Apple Pay and Disney+ are still not available in Turkey.

 

[Corsig]

Apple Pay using the credit card has made my life during covid much less scary. This technology really is the future of all payments. I never have cash in my wallet and many times I don't even take it out with me

 

[Defoler]

Should be made clear: Apple Pay always worked in Israel (it always worked anywhere that had contactless debit or credit cards). What's new is that it works if you have a card issued in Israel by an Israeli bank. So it always worked for Americans, Brits etc. travelling to Israel.

If you are a bank in Israel, it doesn't give you any competitive advantage to support Apple Pay. Until the first bank in the country adopts it. Then you are in danger of losing customers to that bank, so suddenly all the other banks are keen to support ApplePay as well. Apple has to convince ONE bank in a country.

This was not about banks supporting it at all.

Israel had two problems. One is standard for payments which was using a local design that was not supporting international contactless payment until last year (Apple Pay support only started last year in Israel when they finally officially supported EMV, not ever, don’t make stuff up), and second is the availability of contactless points in businesses which also only started to be common last year.

then they needed to support apple system which required the regulate body to approve which also took time because of the mess politically they are.
That also took until mid last year.

then, when all that hurdle was done, they were able to release support. The regulator said they can release support now, and they all worked to make it work at the same time.

israel banks and credit companies wanted to support it since 2017 but the regulator did not approve.

 

[jicon]

Contactless payments have been around a long time now, and suspect it may be the primary method used around the world. I noticed with new credit cards given to us by a Canadian bank in the last few years that they've made a noted change. No embossed name/number/expiry. No number on the front of the card. Everything on the backside.
Ultimately I think the first victim with this change are the merchants that use an old school credit card and paper copier, to copy name and number to multiple receipts/invoices. They are being squeezed out to likely help boost investment in other credit card scan methods, but certainly helps most use a contactless payment option moreso than ever before.

 

[sirozha]

Contactless payments have been around a long time now, and suspect it may be the primary method used around the world. I noticed with new credit cards given to us by a Canadian bank in the last few years that they've made a noted change. No embossed name/number/expiry. No number on the front of the card. Everything on the backside.
Ultimately I think the first victim with this change are the merchants that use an old school credit card and paper copier, to copy name and number to multiple receipts/invoices. They are being squeezed out to likely help boost investment in other credit card scan methods, but certainly helps most use a contactless payment option moreso than ever before.

How do you get a Canadian credit card? Would love to have one.

 

[Liviu Romascanu]

Israel had two problems. One is standard for payments which was using a local design that was not supporting international contactless payment until last year (Apple Pay support only started last year in Israel when they finally officially supported EMV, not ever, don’t make stuff up), and second is the availability of contactless points in businesses which also only started to be common last year.

then they needed to support apple system which required the regulate body to approve which also took time because of the mess politically they are.
That also took until mid last year.

then, when all that hurdle was done, they were able to release support. The regulator said they can release support now, and they all worked to make it work at the same time.

israel banks and credit companies wanted to support it since 2017 but the regulator did not approve.

Interesting, but doesn't match my experience. I've used Apple Pay multiple times in 2015 in Israel (At Super Pharm, and at a couple of vending machines)

 

[rhyzome]

Should be made clear: Apple Pay always worked in Israel (it always worked anywhere that had contactless debit or credit cards). What's new is that it works if you have a card issued in Israel by an Israeli bank. So it always worked for Americans, Brits etc. travelling to Israel.

If you are a bank in Israel, it doesn't give you any competitive advantage to support Apple Pay. Until the first bank in the country adopts it. Then you are in danger of losing customers to that bank, so suddenly all the other banks are keen to support ApplePay as well. Apple has to convince ONE bank in a country.

But wait, haven’t there always been online banks that support Apple Pay? And banks that support Apple Pay have branches all around the world, I imagine...so hasn’t the competition you’re talking about existed as long as Apple Pay has existed?

 

[nin4nin]

סוף סוף!

 

[lartola]

The problem was not in Apple or the banks but rather in the very ancient credit card infrastructure in vast majority of shops

No, that’s not the problem either. If Apple were looking at retailer infrastructure, the USA wouldn’t have been the first country in the world to have apple pay (only 3% of retailers had the necessary equipment there back in 2014).

As I’ve learned overtime the greatest hurdle for apple pay is the archaic way of processing card payments in most countries: they have only one or two local companies that act as switches to process payments. Since they usually can’t handle the tokens generated by Apple Pay, that makes it impossible to implement apple pay with locally issued bank cards until Visa and Mastercard are allowed to operate as local switches too. That’s why Apple Pay took so long to arrive to countries in Eastern Europe, Latin America, Africa and, I bet, Israel too.

 

[lartola]

But wait, haven’t there always been online banks that support Apple Pay? And banks that support Apple Pay have branches all around the world, I imagine...so hasn’t the competition you’re talking about existed as long as Apple Pay has existed?

No. Even though banks operate with the same name in many countries, they still operate as if they were different companies. Example: HSBC. They supported apple pay for customers in the US since 2014, but only started supporting it in 2015 for customers in Canada and UK and not until 2021 for HSBC cardholders in Mexico. Another example: BBVA. They have supported Apple Pay for years in the US and Spain, but still don’t in Mexico. A third example: Banco Santander, it was the first to support Apple Pay in Spain, but still doesn’t support it in Mexico.

 

[lartola]

This was not about banks supporting it at all.

Israel had two problems. One is standard for payments which was using a local design that was not supporting international contactless payment until last year (Apple Pay support only started last year in Israel when they finally officially supported EMV, not ever, don’t make stuff up), and second is the availability of contactless points in businesses which also only started to be common last year.

then they needed to support apple system which required the regulate body to approve which also took time because of the mess politically they are.
That also took until mid last year.

then, when all that hurdle was done, they were able to release support. The regulator said they can release support now, and they all worked to make it work at the same time.

israel banks and credit companies wanted to support it since 2017 but the regulator did not approve.

We had similar problems in Mexico, but the only thing those problems usually prevent is the ability to add to wallet cards issued by local banks. They don’t really prevent the acceptance of apple pay by merchants, since Apple Pay requires no specific support for that (i.e., just so long as a retailer takes nfc contactless payment they can accept apple pay with no problem). So I’m not surprised that someone said on this thread that he could use Apple Pay in Israel back in 2015: it was entirely feasible once he had it set up on his iphone or apple watch with a supported card. I used apple pay in Mexico that way for over four years before it officially became available.

 

[usagora]

If you are a bank in Israel, it doesn't give you any competitive advantage to support Apple Pay. Until the first bank in the country adopts it. Then you are in danger of losing customers to that bank, so suddenly all the other banks are keen to support ApplePay as well. Apple has to convince ONE bank in a country.

So basically you're saying a feature a bank doesn't have isn't a competitive advantage until they have it ? Seems pretty self-evident.

 

[HMFIC03]

Great news!! I’m happy we have in Japan now after just moving here recently. You’d be amazed at how many places still don’t accept CC and with Yen.. anything under $10 is coins.. it sucks but is getting better thanks to the Olympics modernization

 

[redmounts]

Here in Brazil, I have cancelled two credit cards that are reluctant to adopt Apple Pay. Now I am using two CC from different banks that support Apple Pay. So, yes, having it or not makes a difference to most customers when deciding which bank to adopt.

 

[lartola]

Here in Brazil, I have cancelled two credit cards that are reluctant to adopt Apple Pay. Now I am using two CC from different banks that support Apple Pay. So, yes, having it or not makes a difference to most customers when deciding which bank to adopt.

True. Here in Mexico a number of people opened accounts in citibanamex and banorte (the first two banks to support Apple Pay besides American Express) just to use Apple Pay. I was lucky to already have an account for years with Citibanamex (though I actually had been using Apple Pay in Mexico for years with a US card).

 

[tommysiamese]

I have been waiting for  Pay in Thailand for years. Many rumors said it would be this year. I hope it's true. I can't wait anymore.