Apple Pay launches in Iceland with support from Arion Banki and Landsbankinn

Apple Pay is continuing its rollout to new territories, with the mobile payments system now available to use in Iceland for the first time for customers of the financial institutions Arion Banki and Landsbankinn from Wednesday onwards.

The two banks announced support for Apple Pay on Wednesday via their official websites and Twitter. Available straight away, the added support now means customers that have accounts with either of the banks are able to add their card to the Wallet app, and use it to make contactless payments using Apple Pay for the iPhone and the Apple Watch.

The cards are also able to be used on iPads, the iPod Touch, and Mac to perform transactions within apps and through websites, without needing to use the contactless element. While Arion Bank and Landsbankinn are the first two to announce support for Apple Pay, it is likely that others in the country will follow in the coming months.

Apple Pay er komi til slands. a er trlega gilegt a nota smann til a borga fyrir vrur og jnustu, enda erum vi flest me hann vi hndina hvar sem vi komum. a er einfalt a tengja kort vi Apple Pay og virkja jnustuna. pic.twitter.com/mQiFRrZZlV
— Arion banki (@arionbanki) May 8, 2019

Apple Pay helped Apple hit an all-time Services record in its second quarter results, earning $11.5 billion. During the related financial earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook advised "Apple Pay is now available in 30 markets and we expect to be live in 40 markets by the end of the year," as well as confirming transaction volume has more than doubled year-on-year and that the company was on track to reach 10 billion Apple Pay transactions within the 2019 calendar year.

The 10 new markets are highly likely to include the Netherlands, which was recently revealed to be gaining Apple Pay in the near future via an announcement from ING Bank. Apple Pay has also recently launched in Austria, and with launches in Estonia, Greece, Portugal, Slovakia, and Slovenia thought to be occurring very soon.