Apple Pay has launched in Austria, representing the 35th market for Apple’s mobile payment platform.
The service is supported for Maestro, MasterCard and Visa cards provided by the Erste Bank, Sparkasse, and N26 banks. Other Austrian Apple Pay partners are supposedly “coming soon.” These will include the likes of Bank Austria, VIMPay, Revolut, Boon and Edenred.
As with other European markets, NFC payments are already established in Austria. This could either help or hurt Apple. It may hurt because it means that there is no novelty involved with Apple Pay. On the other hand, it means that customers require no education in how to use contactless payments.
Apple’s Austrian expansion
Apple Pay was first rumored to be arriving in Austria in the middle of last year. This followed Apple opening its first official Apple Store in the country.
While there’s no news on Apple’s negotiations with Austrian banks, it’s interesting to note that Apple faced big challenges in Austria’s neighboring Germany. This involved tense negotiations between Apple and German banks regarding fees and control.
Apple’s recent challenges in Austria have included a levy placed on giant tech companies that make huge online profits which largely go untaxed.
Coming to 40 markets by the end of 2019
Apple first introduced Apple Pay to its first market, the U.S., on October 20, 2014. Tim Cook has previously suggested that rolling out Apple Pay had proven more challenging than expected to roll out. “Mobile payments have taken off slower than I personally would have thought if you asked me sitting here a few years ago,” he said.
Nonetheless, Apple has continued to add new markets on a regular basis. The company says that it plans to expand Apple Pay to 40 regions by the end of 2019. You can check the list of supported countries on Apple’s website.