Paul Morris·

Apple Pay Coming To UAE And 3 Additional Markets By End Of Year 2017

Apple’s CFO has announced that the company is in the process of bringing Apple Pay to UAE and three additional markets.

Apple’s latest Q3 2017 earnings call typically covered the company’s revenues, a number of devices sold, and all of the other financial and professional gold that’s lapped up by investors, but it also featured an almost stealth announcement that Apple Pay is coming to four additional countries by year’s end.

Rather than providing in-depth information about the launch, such as the partner banks or retail partners involved in the deal in each country, Apple’s CFO simply stated that Apple Pay “is scheduled to go live before the end of the calendar year” in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Sweden, Denmark, and Finland. Historically speaking, with each previous release into a new territory, Apple has announced supporting financial institutions and retailers, but not this time. It’s likely that information will come as each country goes live.

Further expansion for Apple Pay is definitely exciting and impressive, but Maestri took things a few steps further by providing those on the call with some additional information around the growth of Apple Pay, suggesting that it accounts for approximately 90-percent of all mobile transactions globally:

Apple Pay is by far the number one NFC payment service on mobile devices with nearly 90% of all transactions globally. Momentum is strongest in international markets where the infrastructure for mobile payments has developed faster than in the US. In fact, three out of four Apple Pay transactions happen outside the US.

Maestri also touched on the fact that additional Apple Pay integrations are coming to the general public with the release of iOS 11. When Apple’s latest major iteration of iOS 11 ships later this year, consumers will be to “make and receive person-to-person payments quickly, easily, and securely”, thanks to the fact that the native iOS Messages app is now directly linked to Apple Pay as a service.

Apple Pay most recently expanded into the Italian market offering support for cards issued by American Express, Banco Mediolanum, UniCredit, Carrefour Banca, and boon. by Wirecard. As time progresses we can expect to see additional Apple Pay announcement regarding the four mentioned countries, including the relevant supported financial institutions.

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