Roger Fingas
Apple Pay may launch in the Czech Republic sooner rather than later, debuting on Feb. 19, according to one report.
The date stems from "sources familiar with the developments on the banking market," and has allegedly been confirmed by Apple itself, according to iDNES.cz. A spokesman for one local bank, Ceska sporitelna, said only that Apple Pay is currently in testing and that his firm wants to be in the first wave.
iPhone owners are already using the feature in some cases, a common occurence when a country or retailer is on the verge of getting an official announcement.
Other first-wave card issuers will allegedly include Air Bank, Komercni bank, Monet, mBank, and Twisto. Businesses like Fio, Equa, Creditas, and CSOB are expected to deploy support later in 2019.
Previously a Czech launch was only rumored to be taking place sometime between late February and early March. That same rumor pointed to a Slovak rollout in the same timeframe, but it's unknown if that country will get support simultaneously.
Apple Pay first launched in the U.S. in October 2014. Its international spread was initially slow, but it has since come to many of the world's biggest markets, such as China, the U.K., and Germany. Much of Europe is now covered, though other gaps include the likes of Austria, Greece, Hungary, and Romania.
The main obstacle towards expansion is negotiation with banks. Apple claims a fractional fee from each Apple Pay transaction, which can amount to millions of dollars over time. Banks are often loathe to lose that revenue, but also want to be seen as meeting demand for mobile payment options.
Another problem has been retailer compatibility. Two U.S. holdouts — Target and Taco Bell — recently caved, but chains like Walmart are still resistant.
Charles Martin
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5 Comments
I guess it's not a large country but the Czech Republic must be in the top few countries in Europe for contactless payments. The country went from a totally backwards system of only cash and you had to have exact change, to chip and PIN to contactless almost over night. And retailers seem to understand the etiquette of contactless too - so often in other countries the retailer takes the card, which isn't exactly what I would call contactless. And yet mobile payments don't seem to have taken off at all. Apple isn't very big anyway but I hardly ever see anyone using Android Pay or the various bank-own versions. There just doesn't seem to be a big need for it if you don't have a payment-enabled watch.
Interesting...I was there just few days ago and I didn’t know Apple Pay has not launch in the country. I have been able to use throughout the entire few days stay, dine, shop at Prague (Praha). Now I see why the cashiers look puzzled when I show them my Apple Watch displaying credit card.
A compliment to the people of Czech...At the least they have not displayed any resistance or irritation to accept Apple Pay (via Apple Watch). They outright points me to where the terminal is or stretch out their terminal (portable ones at dining places) to allow ease of placing my watch over it. I must say it’s one of the best mobile payment experiences I have in a country.
In some countries, they are just outright resistance to change and will comment such as ‘doubt it will work’, or ‘do u have the card’.
In Vienna, one restaurant’s staff even look puzzled as though wanting to speak up (but thankfully didn’t) and when the payment went through, another staff besides asked if that’s from Apple.
Grocery shopping in either Czech or Austria and the cashier actually made a conversation with me about Apple Pay/Watch which I responded on how grateful I am of having it cause I am all dressed up for the cold weather and having hands tied (backpack, packing purchases away into grocery bag), it’s cumbersome and slowing down the long queue if I have to physically take my wallet out and credit card out just to make a payment. She agrees how convenient it is too.
You are forgetting a small country called Netherlands, where banks are resisting ApplePay.
Im from Czech Republic and I cannot wait for Apple Pay in mine country it’s been 5 years but I don’t see my bank in the first wave hope that will be soon changed ☺️