While Apple’s mobile payment option is available in a lot of places, there are still some holes to fill. Which Apple is working on. Today, for instance, there’s a brand new market to add to the “supported” column, with Apple Pay officially launching in a new region.
Today, Apple Pay is officially available in Qatar. The mobile payment option went live on Tuesday. Qatar National Bank made the announcement today (via AppleInsider). This actually marks the third country in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to launch Apple Pay support, so it’s not an entirely new region to get support for the mobile payment option. QNB’s announcement on Tuesday was part of a packaged deal, noting that the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has forced a change in payment options.
QNB coupled the support for Apple Pay alongside announcements that it is rolling out a whole suite of additional secure digital payment solutions. Support for Apple Pay by QNB is a big deal, as it’s one of the biggest financial institutions in the region. It operates in 31 markets. However, that being said, QNB’s announcement seems to make it clear that Apple Pay support is only available in Qatar for now.
From today’s announcement:
We are proud for taking the initiative of bringing Apple Pay to the Qatari market. QNB has a reputation of providing its customers with state-of-the-art technologies,’ said Heba Al-Tamimi, general manager at QNB Group’s Retail Banking arm.
QNB supports both Visa- and Mastercard-branded debit and credit cards. Which means QNB customers will be able to add both to the Apple Wallet and use them, along with any associated benefits attached to them, for Apple Pay.
As mentioned above, this is the third country in the region to launch support for Apple Pay. The mobile payment option arrived in Saudi Arabia in 2019 and, before that, went live in the United Arab Emirates in 2017.