Apple Pay Coming to the United Kingdom Next Month, Discover Card Support Arriving This Fall

Today Apple briefly reiterated on Apple Pay's success in the United States, mentioning upcoming support for Discover credit cards and new expansive partners coming soon. The company also announced that Apple Pay will be coming to the United Kingdom, with 250,000 UK merchants launching support of the service in July.

Those 250,000 confirmed supporters of the mobile wallet in the UK exceed even the United States' 200,000 when Apple Pay launched in the states last year. Apple also confirmed that UK users will be able to commute and pay for fares on London's Underground with Apple Pay, and that when the service launches in the UK next month, it will support eight of the "most established banks" in the country.

"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,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. “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.”

In addition to expanded United Kingdom support, the company confirmed that store credit and debit cards would be arriving in iOS 9, with store cards offering unique membership benefits. Kohl's and JCPenney are amongst the first supporters of the membership service, with the company promising that loyalty and rewards cards are coming soon too.

Specifically, companies like Coca-Cola, Dunkin' Donuts, and Panera Bread will be among the first to bring a rewards program to users with Apple Pay. Apple ended its Apple Pay briefing by confirming Passbook would be renamed to 'Wallet,' a one-stop-shop for all of a user's credit and debit cards, loyalty cards, boarding passes, and more.