Apple today announced that starting next month, Apple Pay will be available to customers in the UK, bringing them the easy, secure and private way to pay. Whether buying groceries, grabbing coffee, picking up lunch or taking the Tube, UK shoppers will soon be able to make many of their daily purchases with Apple Pay. At launch, over 250,000 locations will accept Apple Pay, with support from eight of the UK’s most established banks, across all of the major credit and debit card networks.
“Apple Pay has quickly become a big part of millions of users’ everyday shopping routines, providing a simpler, faster and more secure way to pay,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services, in a statement. “We’re thrilled to bring Apple Pay to the UK with support at launch from the most popular banks, an incredible roster of merchants and many of our users’ favorite apps.”
Paying in stores or within apps has never been easier. In stores, shopping with Apple Pay is fast and there are no extra steps — simply hold your iPhone® near the contactless reader while keeping a finger on Touch ID. With Apple Watch just double click the side button and hold the face up to the contactless reader to make a purchase right from your wrist. Shopping in apps with Apple Pay can be as simple as the touch of a finger, so iPhone and iPad® users can pay for physical goods and services, including apparel, electronics, health and beauty products, tickets and more.
Security and privacy are at the core of Apple Pay. In the UK, users will soon receive all the benefits of protecting personal information, transaction data, and credit and debit card information with the industry-leading security Apple Pay brings. When adding a credit or debit card, the actual card numbers are not stored on the device, nor on Apple servers. Instead, a unique Device Account Number is assigned, encrypted and securely stored in the Secure Element on your device, and each transaction is authorized with a one-time unique dynamic security code.
Apple Pay will support UK credit and debit cards from American Express, MasterCard and Visa Europe, issued by many of the UK’s most popular banks, including first direct, HSBC, NatWest, Nationwide Building Society, Royal Bank of Scotland, Santander and Ulster Bank. Other major issuing banks will follow by this fall, including Bank of Scotland, Coutts, Halifax, Lloyds Bank, MBNA, M&S Bank and TSB Bank.
“As part of our goal to be number one, we are absolutely focused on giving our customers the best and most innovative experience possible,” said Ross McEwan, CEO of Royal Bank of Scotland. “Whether on the high street, in a small shop or on the go within apps, Apple Pay offers a simple and secure way to pay. We are pleased to be among the first UK banks to offer this service to our customers.”
Starting in July, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and Apple Watch users will be able to make purchases anywhere contactless payments are accepted. In addition to the 39 Apple Stores in the UK, leading locations for everyday shopping that will accept Apple Pay include Boots UK, BP, Costa Coffee, Dune, JD Sports, KFC UK & Ireland, Liberty, LIDL, Marks & Spencer (M&S), McDonald’s UK, Nando’s, New Look, Post Office, Pret A Manger, SPAR, Starbucks, SUBWAY stores, Wagamama and Waitrose. Transport for London will also accept Apple Pay, so you can use your iPhone or Apple Watch to pay for your travel or daily commute.
“We are proud to be one of the first retailers to introduce Apple Pay at our stores across the UK. Whether customers are enjoying our special food range or our clothing collections, our early introduction of Apple Pay will provide them with a seamless and secure way of checking out,” said Marc Bolland, CEO of Marks & Spencer.
In apps, checkout is simple and there is no need to manually fill out lengthy account forms or repeatedly type in shipping and billing information. Apps that will accept Apple Pay in the UK include Addison Lee, Airbnb, Argos, Booking.com, British Airways, Domino’s, easyJet, Hailo, HotelTonight, hungryhouse, JD Sports, Just Eat, lastminute.com, Miss Selfridge, Ocado, Stubhub, thetrainline.com, Top 10, Topshop, Uncover, Vueling, YPlan, Zalando and Zara, among others. When paying for goods and services within apps, Apple Pay is compatible with iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3.
Source: Apple Inc.
…APPLEPAY
No says Barclays and Barclaycard.
Sort it out chaps, no one cares about your stupid electronic payment app crap.
Barclays behind the curve as always … Guess they are still focused on which fine from which regulator to pay off first; Apple Pay will not be top of mind!
I am not sure Apple Pay allows you to manipulate LIBOR or FOREX.
Until they allow this I don’t think Barclays will allow Apple Pay.
/s
To be fair, Baarclays did introduce Credit Cards to the UK
and had the first ATM machine too (for withdrawels anyway). Bit pissed mind as that is the Bank I use most often, might have to re instate my HSBC or Nationwide accounts if that attitude continues. I suspect they will be in by year’s end mind. The London Transport travel use will be a boon to many and is a serious opportunity to popularise it and shows how TFL are really getting their act together these days.
CANADA NOW PLEASE
SO, I’m Italian and I work in the UK and I won’t be able to use it because my Amex, which I use for 100% of my purchases, has not been issued in UK… I mean I can understand for cards issues by specific banks but Amex…why not opening it for everyone?
What’s with Apple’s shunning of Canada lately? We still don’t have iTunes radio, News witch is a no brainer for Canada as we carry most if not all American Magazines and newspapers here, and Pay in the UK before Canada? I really don’t get it Canada and the U.S. have so much in common yet Apple treats us like a foreign country 😉
It’s not Apple, it’s CANADA.
Same for iBooks, iTunes Radio and now Apple Pay.
UK pop 65M, Canada pop 35M, Australia pop 21M
Apple Pay is not coming to Canada soon because of our stooopid banks (yes, that is with triple “o”) Canadian banks are huge and there are only a few of them but they have a huge inertia and bureaucracy to overcome. Glacial I tell you.
Wikipedia – According to Bloomberg, in 2011 the big five dominate the world’s twenty strongest $100-billion-asset banks, with Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Toronto-Dominion Bank, Royal Bank of Canada and Bank of Nova Scotia at 3rd, 4th, 6th and 18th place, respectively, while non-big five National Bank of Canada sits at 5th place.
Yes and as it can initially focus on London the population advantage really hits home especially when you take into consideration commuters and tourists it is a massive market in a relatively small geographic area and massive commercial and retail assets, perfect for such an introduction to gain momentum.
Some notable retailers absent, i.e. Tesco, Sainsburies, Morrisons, though Asda not a surprise as its a Walmart subsidiary. Waitrose and M&S will truly benefit from this the former in particular who really are eating the others for lunch on customer Service and quality the exact Apple clientele.
As a Canadian the problem is with our banks not Apple. RBC, which is my principal bank is very clear that it is leery about Apple Pay because it “may” put Apple between them and their customers. Depending this situation progresses, I may have to make use of an US issued credit card if I want to use Apple Pay.