“Apple introduced its mobile payments service to Britain on Tuesday as Barclays became the last major UK bank to sign up for the U.S. tech giant’s effort to capitalise on the increasing comfort among British consumers with making tap-and-go purchases,” Eric Auchard reports for Reuters. “A quarter of a million outlets will offer Apple Pay, from London Underground stations to coffee shops, retailers and travel businesses, making it more widely available than when it first launched in the United States last year.”
“‘We actually think that the UK can be our leading market for Apple Pay, given the unique characteristics (of the market),’ said Jennifer Bailey, vice president of Apple Pay,” Auchard reports. “NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Banco Santander were among the first banks to begin offering Apple Pay to their clients on Tuesday, and it will eventually be supported by all major British banks.”
“The last holdout, Barclays, confirmed on Tuesday that its customers will be able to use Apple Pay at an unspecified date in the future,” Auchard reports. “HSBC will follow later in July and other major banks plan to offer it in the autumn.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Welcome to the future, Barclays!
Is it because they have worked out how to rig LIBOR and FOREX with Apple Pay?
Smarter people overall in the UK (as opposed to the redneck or general doofuses that populate much of the U.S.) will be able to make Apple Pay much more ubiquitous much faster.
Not nice generalizing about people in a country of 321 million.
I didn’t say “ALL.” We got smart people here too of course but I’d say on a head count we’re a dumber country overall than the UK with more than our fair share of tech-challenged doofi. 🙂
How scum you thinks dare more smarter? Show, in the passed, General Lee, when day was shake spear and nat, but ain’t no buddy no good at reed in right no mow, ware ever day lives.
Hmmm, come to think of it a lot of rednecks are bald headed… 🙂
What is it about us Americans that makes us so stubborn to change and slow to move? As Churchill once said: “You can count on Americans to do the right thing …but only after they have tried everything else.”
It is unbelievable that we have gone so long without computer chips in credit cards yet — remarkably, for a country of whiners — no one complains! Where is our resolve to fix egregious excesses in our financial “system” particularly after it nearly brought down the world’s economy and the country essentially bailed out the guilty parties (but not the little guys) for their for their losses? When will most Americans stop denying global climate change is occurring and actually start doing something about it?