Apple Pay in Germany is now available at two more banks, Sparkasse and Commerzbank.
As noted by the German blog Macerkopf.de, Commerzbank customer can now add their supported card to the Wallet app and use it to cover their Apple Pay purchases made in stores and apps or on the web via their iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch or Mac.
Norisbank has also announced support for Apple Pay from today, noting that their checking account customers who activate and use Apple Pay until January 31, 2020 will receive a €10 App Store and iTunes voucher.
As for Sparkasse, which has more than 400 banks, their Visa and Mastercard cards will be supported this year while Sparkasse’s Girocard debit card will enable Apple Pay support in 2020. Sparkasse customers wishing to use Apple Pay must have online banking enabled, use the official Sparkassen app have a pushTAN or chipTAN and a Sparkasse-issued credit or debit card added in the Wallet app.
With expanded Apple Pay support now live, millions of additional customers in Germany now have access to Apple Pay almost precisely a year after the Apple-branded mobile payment service launched in the country last December.
Apple Pay debuted in Germany with support from all major card networks and smaller banks such as boon, comdirect, Edenred, Fidor Bank, Hanseatic Bank and Vim Pay. Following the launch, Apple Pay in November 2019 picked up additional support in Germany from ING.
The iOS Feature Availability page has additional information on supported Apple Pay markets.
Apple is currently running a time-limited promotion for Apple Card customers in the United States with six percent Daily Cash (double the usual amount) available on select first-party hardware purchases made at offline and online Apple Stores in the country.
Also, a hidden message discovered in the Wallet app has hinted at imminent launch in the United States of an upcoming Monthly Installments feature that will permit Apple Card cardholders to pick up a brand new iPhone on an interest-free payment plan.