Apple Pay prepares to go live in the Netherlands

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Apple Pay Netherlands
Soon you'll be able to pay for your smoke and a pancake using your iPhone.
Screenshot: ING

Shortly after going live in Austria, Apple Pay is also set to commence operations in the Netherlands.

The information was shared by Dutch bank ING on its website. While it doesn’t give an exact date, it does note that Apple Pay is coming “soon.” That suggests that all the necessary negotiations have been completed, and it’s just a matter of flicking the switch to send it live.

Also unknown is exactly which banks will support Apple Pay. Local website iCulture contacted several banks. ABN AMRO confirmed discussions with Apple, while Bunq and Rabobank provided more generic responses, which neither confirmed or denied support. The least positive, at least at first, is Volksbank, which includes SNS, ASN and RegioBank. The firm said that it is taking a wait-and-see approach.

Apple Pay’s expansion

Apple first introduced Apple Pay to its first market, the U.S., on October 20, 2014. Since then, it has rolled out the service in numerous countries. Provided that it’s next to launch, the Netherlands will mark the 36th market for Apple Pay. Apple has stated that it plans to have expanded to 40 regions by the end of 2019. You can check the list of supported countries on Apple’s website.

While Tim Cook has suggested that mobile payments have rolled out slower than expected, Apple is still managing to rack up plenty of new users. With its population of more than 17 million (around twice the size of the total New York population), the Netherlands isn’t a massive potential market for the taking. But it is still a valuable one as Apple continues to try and conquer Europe with its mobile payments system.

Are you a regular Apple Pay user? What do you think of the service? Let us know in the comments below.

Source: iCulture

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