Apple, Monday announced that starting next month, Apple Pay will be available to customers in the UK, enabling UK shoppers to make many of their daily purchases with Apple Pay, whether they are buying groceries, grabbing coffee, picking up lunch or taking the Tube. At launch, over 250,000 contactless payment terminals will accept Apple Pay, with support from eight of the UK’s most established banks, across all of the major credit and debit card networks, said Apple in a statement.
Apple Pay will leverage the combination of NFC technology and its Touch ID fingerprint reader to authenticate purchases. The service is currently supported on the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, and the new Apple Watch, allowing customers to use these devices to tap on a contactless payment terminal to purchase items in a store.
According to Apple, users of Apple Pay will enjoy both security and privacy - protection of personal information, transaction data, and credit and debit card information as the actual card numbers are not stored on the device when a credit or debit card is added to the service and instead, a unique Device Account Number is assigned, encrypted and securely stored in the Secure Element on their devices and each transaction is authorized with a one-time unique dynamic security code.
Eddy Cue, SVP, Internet Software and Services, Apple
Apple Pay has quickly become a big part of millions of users’ everyday shopping routines, providing a simpler, faster and more secure way to pay. We’re thrilled to bring Apple Pay to the UK with support at launch from the most popular banks, an incredible roster of merchants and many of our users’ favorite apps.
Marc Bolland, CEO, Marks & Spencer
We are proud to be one of the first retailers to introduce Apple Pay at our stores across the UK. Whether customers are enjoying our special food range or our clothing collections, our early introduction of Apple Pay will provide them with a seamless and secure way of checking out
