Apple Pay UK Launch

Apple Pay UK has arrived and hopefully, will gain popularity fast on the island. How fun would it be if the Queen used it, too?

The cutting edge payment system will now be available in the United Kingdom and the possibilities are endless… it can be used in stores, or you can make in-app purchases. The set-up process is really easy, all you need according to The Guardian is the latest iOS, a registered fingerprint with your Touch ID, an iCloud account, a credit or debit card (with a bank that is an Apple Pay partner) and you regional settings to be set for the UK.

Furthermore, it is important that you know that the only devices that Apple Pay accepts are the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, the iPad Air 2 or iPad Mini 3 and the Apple Watch (that can be paired with iPhone 5 onwards.) Apple Pay UK will be available in a wide array of shops, 250,000 to be exact. Among these is Costa, Boots, Waitrose, Wagamama and Starbucks, according to the list on The Telegraph’s website. People will also be able to pay for public transportation with Apple Pay. However, for the web-based casino industry, we have yet to see whether online gambling sites in the UK are eligible to use Apple Pay…

Success in the US, high hopes for Apple Pay UK

The first banks that accept Apple Pay are Santander, NatWest, Nationwide Building Society, Royal Bank of Scotland, Ulster Bank and MBNA. Other banks will soon be joining the Apple Pay partner club, too, like HSBC. It seems like Barclays is not going to be a part of Apple Pay; The Telegraph reports that they want to embark on a digital payment method venture on their own.

For people who are concerned about the level of security, the VP of Apple Pay, Jennifer Bailey says they needn’t worry: “We don’t store the credit card number on your phone, a new device account number generated by the banks is stored on the phone in our secure element. There is also a unique dynamic security code is set with every payment, so if the device account number is compromised in any way, it won’t work.” Sounds good enough for me… Now, only one thing remains for Apple Pay in the UK: integrating mobile betting sites into this facilitated payment world.