We just told you how Apple has been hard at work getting Apple Pay into more public transit systems and now a new report outlines how customers in Switzerland can purchase a bus ticket with a dedicated Apple Watch app that's integrated with Apple Pay. Swiss website Cominmag reports that the app in question, FAIRTIQ, files as the world's first app to bring the ticket vending machine on the Apple Watch.
Apple has been working on getting its mobile payments system, which expanded into Russia earlier this month, into more public transit systems, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.
Thanks to FeliCa-compatible NFC chips inside iPhone 7 and Apple Watch Series 2 models sold in Japan, Apple Pay will be gaining support for Japanese railway JR East later this month through its dedicated Suica payment system.
Apple's mobile payments service has officially launched in Russia, marking the tenth country where Apple Pay is now available. According to Reuters this morning, the service is available with support from MasterCard and Moscow-based Sberbank at launch. Users can add their credit or debit card to Apple Pay via the Wallet app on their iPhone or set up Apple Pay directly in the Sberbank Online mobile app.
American fast food chain Chick-fil-A said on Twitter it's upgraded its registers and will start accepting Apple Pay payments tomorrow. Responding to an inquiry about NFC support, a company representative has confirmed that as of tomorrow, August 19, Apple Pay and Android Pay will be available for payment both in-restaurant and in the Drive Thru.
With Apple Pay support, Chick-fil-A customers will simply bring their iPhone or Apple Watch to the card reader to pay for their meal.
Apple Pay expansion in international markets has accelerated lately, with the mobile payment system launching in France yesterday and now, just 24 hours later, in Hong Kong. According to Apple Pay's Hong Kong website, the service is supported at launch by all three major credit card companies: Visa, American Express and MasterCard, with cards issued by Hang Seng Bank, Bank of China (Hong Kong), DBS Bank (Hong Kong), HSBC, Standard Chartered and AmEx.
Apple today announced that its mobile payments service, called Apple Pay, is now accepted in France through launch partnerships established with card issuers Visa and MasterCard. Customers in France can now add their MasterCard and Visa cards to the Wallet app on their iPhone and start paying for goods and service in stores and apps with Apple Pay.
As rumored, Apple's mobile payment system on Thursday went live in Switzerland, its seventh country, expanding the European footprint for Apple Pay beyond the United Kingdom. The firm announced the service is available with initial support for MasterCard and Visa credit and debit cards issued by Bonus Card, Corner Bank and Swiss Bankers, with additional banks and credit card issuers to be added at a later stage. Apple Pay boss, Jennifer Bailey, said the company plans to bring Apple Pay to every major market in which its products are sold.
Safari Technology Preview, an experimental version of the Safari browser meant for testing upcoming new capabilities and web technologies, is a good place to look for clues regarding new features in development. Today, Apple released an eighth update to Safari Technology Preview, which debuted in March 2016, and the browser appears to include pieces of code to support the upcoming Apple Pay integration with websites.
During yesterday's WWDC 2016 keynote, Apple has confirmed that its mobile payments service is officially launching later this year in France, Hong Kong and Switzerland. Local Apple Pay webpages in these countries have already been refreshed to acknowledge the forthcoming launches in partnerships with Visa, MasterCard and American Express and detail participating banks and merchants.
After launching in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, China and Singapore, Apple Pay is about to make its debut in Switzerland on Monday, June 13, German-language financial outlet Finews reported this morning.
It will reportedly be supported at launch by Swiss private bank Corner Bank but it's unclear from the report whether major banks UBS and Credit Suisse will work with the service beginning next Monday.
While in between two jobs, reporter Mark Gurman appeared on the latest episode of The Jay & Farhad Show podcast, where he shared more details about what we might see at WWDC this year, including new iOS features and design tweaks. Gurman also revealed more information about this year and next year's iPhone models.
While most of Gurman details were already known or rumored for a while, he did also offer information about features we hadn't heard of until now.
Earlier in the week, Apple Pay launched fully in Singapore with five major local banks on board, marking the sixth country where the company's service is currently accepted as a form of payment.
But that's just the beginning as Apple's ultimate goal is to roll out the service to "every significant market" in which the company operates, according to Jennifer Bailey, who was former Netscape executive and now serves as Vice President of Apple Pay.