Apple Pay May Launch in the Netherlands and Poland Later This Year

In addition to Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and the United Arab Emirates, Apple Pay may launch in the Netherlands and Poland later this year.

Dutch blog One More Thing, citing multiple sources familiar with the matter, claims that ING will be the first bank to offer Apple Pay in the Netherlands. Virtual bank Bunq also supposedly plans to support Apple Pay.

Rabobank, one of the largest banks in the Netherlands, reportedly hasn't yet taken any concrete steps towards Apple Pay.

Apple has translated Apple Pay support pages on its website to Dutch and French for the Netherlands and Belgium. Apple Pay was already rumored to launch in Belgium in May, but five months have passed and it has yet to happen.

The report cites one source who claims Apple Pay could launch in the Netherlands on November 2, but the blog could not confirm the date.

Apple's fourth quarter earnings results are scheduled for the same day, so it's possible that Apple will use the subsequent conference call as an opportunity to announce the next wave of Apple Pay launch countries.

MacRumors also received an anonymous tip today with an alleged screenshot of Apple Pay being tested on an iPhone in Poland.

The screenshot shows a Mastercard from PKO Bank Polski, suggesting that bank could be the first to support Apple Pay in the country. However, it could also be a placeholder card for Apple's internal testing only.

The tipster said Apple Pay should be ready to launch in Poland by the end of this year, but we're unable to confirm the authenticity of this information.

Apple Pay vice president Jennifer Bailey has previously said Apple is "working rapidly" to expand Apple Pay to additional countries in Europe and Asia. According to Apple's services chief Eddy Cue, that could soon include India.

Apple Pay is currently available in the United States, Australia, Canada, China, Singapore, Switzerland, France, Hong Kong, Russia, New Zealand, Japan, Spain, Italy, Ireland, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom.

(Thanks, Burak Polat!)

Related Roundup: Apple Pay

Tags: The Netherlands, Poland

Top Rated Comments

(View all)

Berti10

8 months ago

GERMANY !! C‘mon!! Blöde Sparkassen...

Rating: 13 Votes

vatter69

8 months ago

In other news - Apple Pay is available in all countries but Germany.

Rating: 8 Votes

Mike MA

8 months ago

MacRumors should rather do a shortlist of countries not supporting Apple Pay with Germany (and its banks) topping the list.

Rating: 8 Votes

sillert

8 months ago

GERMANY !! C‘mon!! Blöde Sparkassen...

Yeah, I really want it too. It's a shame that one of world's biggest economies does not have Apple Pay. But it's also well known problem of here, see how long it took that credit cards became a common paying option.

Rating: 7 Votes

gjveltink

8 months ago

GERMANY !! C‘mon!! Blöde Sparkassen...

Yes, I'm looking forward to Apple Pay in Germany too. And if the "Sparkassen" can't or won't join in then maybe ING DiBa will be one of the early players in Germany. I mean, if they can do it in the Netherlands, they could also do it in Germany, at least on the technical level.
Keeping my fingers crossed!

Rating: 4 Votes

wbrat

8 months ago

I hope it's true with Poland. We've got contactless terminals everywhere here, so the implementation should be quite easy and smooth (as long as apple pay does not require different standard (?)). On the other hand, PKO BP is the last bank I would expect of implementing anything as innovative as Apple Pay. It is rather traditional type of bank, lagging behind the competition in the high-tech area.

Rating: 4 Votes

BSben

8 months ago

Apple are really rubbish for their German customers, and they are obviously losing out as the iPhone in Germany has a much lower user base than the UK for example. There is no public transport in Maps, the News app never made it to Germany, Siri is much less useful in Germany, and then there is Apple Pay.
However he problem with Apple Pay are the banks. Germans and their banks love cash. Germans prefer to spend money that have got, rather than taking out a loan, or using credit cards. This is a good thing in many ways, but banks earn very little from that. And the last thing the banks want is paying Apple a fee for each transaction. It is a catch 22 on this one, but I am sure that at some point Apple Pay will come to Germany.
Apple has to become less focused on english speaking countries, they already are saturated with Apple products, but it is the world outside that bubble where they are losing out.

Rating: 3 Votes

D582

8 months ago

Since ApplePay is using image recognition with the card, ApplePay would have to know all card iterations of all individual Sparkassen. Also some Sparkassen share the card design with other Sparkassen but are individual banks.

The only ‘image recognition’ Apple Pay does during the setup process is an attempt to read the card number, expiry date, and name off the card so you don’t have to type them in manually. It has nothing to do with the actual design of the card. You can always type in the details manually anyways.

Rating: 3 Votes

Deemr

8 months ago

GERMANY !! C‘mon!! Blöde Sparkassen...

Sparkassen will have a hard time to join ApplePay.

These are all small individual banks, contracting would be a desaster. I don’t see Apple to contract each small Sparkasse individually.

Also the registtation process would be a hell. Since ApplePay is using image recognition with the card, ApplePay would have to know all card iterations of all individual Sparkassen. Also some Sparkassen share the card design with other Sparkassen but are individual banks.

This makes me beleve that we would probably not see a deal with the Sparkassen within the next years.

Rating: 2 Votes