Mikey Campbell
Apple continued an accelerated worldwide rollout of its in-house payments service Apple Pay on Tuesday with a debut in France, the eighth major market to gain compatibility since launch.
As noted by local blog iPhone Addict, Apple announced Apple Pay availability through its regional website early this morning.
In France, Mastercard and Visa credit cards marketed through Banque Populaire, Caisse Epargne, Carrefour Banque and Ticket Restaurant can be provisioned through the service, with upcoming support slated for Boon and Orange. Apple lists 15 major chains as participating retailers, including its own brick-and-mortar stores, with future support promised from Boulanger, Orange and department store Galleries Lafayette.
Todays launch comes less than two weeks after Switzerland gained Apple Pay support earlier this month, and about a month after Apple revealed progress toward a French debut at this year's Worldwide Developers Conference in June.
Since its U.S. introduction in 2014, Apple Pay has expanded to Australia, Canada, China, Singapore, Switzerland and the UK.
In an interview earlier this year, Apple Pay chief Jennifer Bailey said the company is currently focused on an aggressive rollout in Europe and Asia, but the goal is to bring the service to every major market in which Apple products are sold. Hong Kong is expected to be Apple Pay's next launch market.
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13 Comments
...and the hits just keep on coming!
Go Apple, go go go.
Next stops: Switzerland and Hong Kong.
If you care about Switzerland,
they're in already!
Well in fact it seems that this is not entirely true: I have a Mastercard from "Banque Populaire" and my iPhone says that it is not supported when trying to register. My Wife's Visa from the same bank is Ok.
When I was in Bayeux, France (Normandy region) in late April there were several shops including Carrefour that had terminals with the NFC logo, meaning my American cards loaded in Apple Pay should have worked. However none did and I was told more than once that most vendors in France had turned off NFC functionality even where it already exists because citizens are afraid of the technology and believe there is a major risk of being accidentally charged because of their card being in relatively close proximity to the reader even for transactions that are not their own. Can any French readers address if this is in fact the popular opinion there?