Apple Pay coming to Estonia, Greece, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia very soon

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in General Discussion edited March 2019
Mobile banking service N26 has teased it will be making its Apple Pay-supporting service available to customers in European countries that are not currently listed as supporting Apple's mobile payment system, a tweet that could be an indicator of imminent Apple Pay expansion on the continent.

N26's tweet graphic accompanying news of its imminent support of Apple Pay in more countries
N26's tweet graphic accompanying news of its imminent support of Apple Pay in more countries


In a tweet posted on Tuesday, N26 claimed it will be "bringing Apple Pay" to its customers in Estonia, Greece, Portugal, Slovakia, and Slovenia. No timescale was provided for when the bank would offer Apple Pay in those markets, except it would be "coming soon."

The tweet is notable as Apple has not officially confirmed Apple Pay will be arriving in those countries anytime soon. None of the countries listed appear in Apple's list of "Countries and regions that support Apple Pay," nor on the company's list of participating banks.

Coming Soon! @n26 will bring #ApplePay, which is transforming mobile payments with an easy, secure and private way to pay that's fast and convenient to customers in Estonia , Greece , Portugal , Slovakia , and Slovenia ! pic.twitter.com/iWgyH7pBYA

-- N26 (@n26)


It is unclear if the tweet was a misfire by the bank ahead of a formal announcement by Apple itself. As Apple typically prefers to maintain control over the launch timings of products and services, there is a chance the tweet could get pulled from view until its proper launch.

This is not the only tweet N26 has published in the last week relating to Apple Pay. On Tuesday it released a similar tweet advertising the arrival of Apple Pay support in Austria, though at that time other banks made similar confirmations of incoming support.

Apple Pay played a prominent part of Monday's press event, in the launch of Apple Card, a branded credit card created in partnership with Goldman Sachs. Almost exclusively digital in nature but offering a physical titanium card lacking visible card numbers, Apple Card offers deep integration with the Wallet app for managing finances, gaining daily cash rewards on spending, and even same-day application and spending using Apple Pay.

Apple Pay is also available in 40 countries and is accepted by 70 percent of merchants in the United States. As part of the improvements to the payment platform, an expansion of transit system support was also announced, with metro networks in Chicago, Portland, and New York City soon to adopt Apple Pay in their systems.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 21
    randominternetpersonrandominternetperson Posts: 3,089member
    Rather embarrassing for Greece and Portugal to be in the same category as Estonia, Slovakia, and Slovenia.  Is there are a term for "first world" countries that aren't quite as "first world" as the others?  But hey, at least they are ahead of every African country and every Western Hemisphere country other than the US, Canada, and Brazil.
  • Reply 2 of 21
    mac_128mac_128 Posts: 3,454member
    Greece already has Apple Pay. I’ve used it with an Apple Watch last Summer. Did they lose it? What am I missing here?
    edited March 2019 randominternetperson
  • Reply 3 of 21
    ravonripravonrip Posts: 1member
    randominternetperson said:
    Rather embarrassing for Greece and Portugal to be in the same category as Estonia, Slovakia, and Slovenia.  Is there are a term for "first world" countries that aren't quite as "first world" as the others?  But hey, at least they are ahead of every African country and every Western Hemisphere country other than the US, Canada, and Brazil.
    What exactly did you want to say with this comment? I really don’t know in which way the insult goes..
    chiaCarnage
  • Reply 4 of 21
    randominternetpersonrandominternetperson Posts: 3,089member
    ravonrip said:
    randominternetperson said:
    Rather embarrassing for Greece and Portugal to be in the same category as Estonia, Slovakia, and Slovenia.  Is there are a term for "first world" countries that aren't quite as "first world" as the others?  But hey, at least they are ahead of every African country and every Western Hemisphere country other than the US, Canada, and Brazil.
    What exactly did you want to say with this comment? I really don’t know in which way the insult goes..
    Greece and (and to a lesser extent) Portugal are nations with an oversized impact on the history of western civilization.  Estonia, Slovakia, Slovenia?  Not so so much.  Now they are all lumped together as countries that get services years after most European nations get them.  Just seems like a sad metaphor for how the mighty have fallen.  But that's just my reaction.  I'm sure Estonia, Slovakia, and Slovenia have lots of nice features, but essentially irrelevant in the global economy. 
    jbdragon
  • Reply 5 of 21
    davebarnesdavebarnes Posts: 366member
    Going to Slovenija in October. Hopefully, I will get to use Apple Pay.
    randominternetperson
  • Reply 6 of 21
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    mac_128 said:
    Greece already has Apple Pay. I’ve used it with an Apple Watch last Summer. Did they lose it? What am I missing here?
    You made an NFC-based payment using a card from a country where the financial institution that issues the card supports Apple Pay. This will be Greek banks in Greece supporting Apple Pay.
    randominternetpersonjbdragon
  • Reply 7 of 21
    fred1fred1 Posts: 1,112member
    Soli said:
    mac_128 said:
    Greece already has Apple Pay. I’ve used it with an Apple Watch last Summer. Did they lose it? What am I missing here?
    You made an NFC-based payment using a card from a country where the financial institution that issues the card supports Apple Pay. This will be Greek banks in Greece supporting Apple Pay.
    Thank you.  I was wondering what he was talking about.  No Greek banks that I know of have Apple Pay.  There is one bank, Alpha Bank, that has an app for paying via cell phone, but only on Android. The iOS app has never been approved by Apple, which seems to indicate that Apple doesn't want the competition for Apple Pay.  
  • Reply 8 of 21
    fred1fred1 Posts: 1,112member
    randominternetperson said:
    Rather embarrassing for Greece and Portugal to be in the same category as Estonia, Slovakia, and Slovenia.  Is there are a term for "first world" countries that aren't quite as "first world" as the others?  But hey, at least they are ahead of every African country and every Western Hemisphere country other than the US, Canada, and Brazil.
    What's the term for this sort of attitude?  "Countryism", or do we say "racism" for this kind of prejudice and uneducated, unsubstantiated view of certain countries.  What you obviously don't know is that Estonia, for example, is years ahead of any other country in terms of internet technology and use.  You can file and pay your income taxes there *from your cell phone*, to give just one example.  
    chiaCarnage
  • Reply 9 of 21
    bfoubfou Posts: 1member
    You could use Apple Pay in Greece today for existing Apply Pay users around the world where NFC terminals are present.  Issuing banks in Greece and Apple haven't yet made any announcement, relating to existing and new card holders in Greece to enable Apply Pay.
    mac_128
  • Reply 10 of 21
    adiagaadiaga Posts: 2member
    Soon in Romania too according to at least two banks.
  • Reply 11 of 21
    AlinAlin Posts: 16member
         2 Banks from Romania announced it
  • Reply 12 of 21
    randominternetpersonrandominternetperson Posts: 3,089member
    fred1 said:
    randominternetperson said:
    Rather embarrassing for Greece and Portugal to be in the same category as Estonia, Slovakia, and Slovenia.  Is there are a term for "first world" countries that aren't quite as "first world" as the others?  But hey, at least they are ahead of every African country and every Western Hemisphere country other than the US, Canada, and Brazil.
    What's the term for this sort of attitude?  "Countryism", or do we say "racism" for this kind of prejudice and uneducated, unsubstantiated view of certain countries.  What you obviously don't know is that Estonia, for example, is years ahead of any other country in terms of internet technology and use.  You can file and pay your income taxes there *from your cell phone*, to give just one example.  
    It's just an observation, not an attitude.  For some reason(s) these countries are getting Apple Pay years after neighboring countries.  Is that the fault of my "countryism."  Or am I just noticing that countries like Greece and Portugal which appear frequently in American World History textbooks are in the same category as 3 countries that 99.9% of Americans (and I dare say 90% of Europeans) couldn't find on a map.  I expect that citizens of Greece and Portugal think of their countries as peers of Italy, France, Germany, and the UK rather than these countries, but maybe I'm wrong.  Perhaps they aspire to be more like Estonia.
    Soli
  • Reply 13 of 21
    sirozhasirozha Posts: 801member
    randominternetperson said:
    Rather embarrassing for Greece and Portugal to be in the same category as Estonia, Slovakia, and Slovenia.  Is there are a term for "first world" countries that aren't quite as "first world" as the others?  But hey, at least they are ahead of every African country and every Western Hemisphere country other than the US, Canada, and Brazil.
    Why is it embarrassing for Greece or Portugal to be in the same category as Slovenia or Estonia? Have you ever been to Greece? How about Estonia? 
    Carnagechia
  • Reply 14 of 21
    jbdragonjbdragon Posts: 2,311member
    fred1 said:
    randominternetperson said:
    Rather embarrassing for Greece and Portugal to be in the same category as Estonia, Slovakia, and Slovenia.  Is there are a term for "first world" countries that aren't quite as "first world" as the others?  But hey, at least they are ahead of every African country and every Western Hemisphere country other than the US, Canada, and Brazil.
    What's the term for this sort of attitude?  "Countryism", or do we say "racism" for this kind of prejudice and uneducated, unsubstantiated view of certain countries.  What you obviously don't know is that Estonia, for example, is years ahead of any other country in terms of internet technology and use.  You can file and pay your income taxes there *from your cell phone*, to give just one example.  
    I don't think it was really meant the way you are saying. As for filing Taxes on your Cell phone. Well I suppose you can do that here in the U.S. There's online company's like TaxAct, all you need is a web browser and go online and do it. Taxes here can really be complex so I don't know if you really would want to do them on such a small device. If you can use the EZ form, it would be easier. But you still need to gather any and all paperwork you may have and need. Long ago, I was using tax software on my Amiga computer.

    Estonia looks like a interesting place I'd like to visit. I can add that to other places I'd like to go and see. Along with Sweden, Finland and Norway. The whole Baltic Sea area. I think it would be pretty interesting.
    edited March 2019
  • Reply 15 of 21
    fred1fred1 Posts: 1,112member
    jbdragon said:
    fred1 said:
    randominternetperson said:
    Rather embarrassing for Greece and Portugal to be in the same category as Estonia, Slovakia, and Slovenia.  Is there are a term for "first world" countries that aren't quite as "first world" as the others?  But hey, at least they are ahead of every African country and every Western Hemisphere country other than the US, Canada, and Brazil.
    What's the term for this sort of attitude?  "Countryism", or do we say "racism" for this kind of prejudice and uneducated, unsubstantiated view of certain countries.  What you obviously don't know is that Estonia, for example, is years ahead of any other country in terms of internet technology and use.  You can file and pay your income taxes there *from your cell phone*, to give just one example.  
    I don't think it was really meant the way you are saying. As for filing Taxes on your Cell phone. Well I suppose you can do that here in the U.S. There's online company's like TaxAct, all you need is a web browser and go online and do it. Taxes here can really be complex so I don't know if you really would want to do them on such a small device. If you can use the EZ form, it would be easier. But you still need to gather any and all paperwork you may have and need. Long ago, I was using tax software on my Amiga computer.

    Estonia looks like a interesting place I'd like to visit. I can add that to other places I'd like to go and see. Along with Sweden, Finland and Norway. The whole Baltic Sea area. I think it would be pretty interesting.
    Interesting. I didn’t know that about TaxAct. Though my example was just one of many. The point of course is that Estonia isn’t the backwater that this person seems to think. I’ve been to Estonia once and Latvia several times and they are very interesting and beautiful countries. Definitely worth a visit, with or without Apple Pay! 😁
  • Reply 16 of 21
    fred1fred1 Posts: 1,112member
    randominternetperson said:
    fred1 said:
    randominternetperson said:
    Rather embarrassing for Greece and Portugal to be in the same category as Estonia, Slovakia, and Slovenia.  Is there are a term for "first world" countries that aren't quite as "first world" as the others?  But hey, at least they are ahead of every African country and every Western Hemisphere country other than the US, Canada, and Brazil.
    What's the term for this sort of attitude?  "Countryism", or do we say "racism" for this kind of prejudice and uneducated, unsubstantiated view of certain countries.  What you obviously don't know is that Estonia, for example, is years ahead of any other country in terms of internet technology and use.  You can file and pay your income taxes there *from your cell phone*, to give just one example.  
    It's just an observation, not an attitude.  For some reason(s) these countries are getting Apple Pay years after neighboring countries.  Is that the fault of my "countryism."  Or am I just noticing that countries like Greece and Portugal which appear frequently in American World History textbooks are in the same category as 3 countries that 99.9% of Americans (and I dare say 90% of Europeans) couldn't find on a map.  I expect that citizens of Greece and Portugal think of their countries as peers of Italy, France, Germany, and the UK rather than these countries, but maybe I'm wrong.  Perhaps they aspire to be more like Estonia.
    Yes, and an observation that is offensive and apparently not based at all on personal knowledge or experience. Which are never prerequisites for prejudice. The people of Greece and Portugal do admire any country that has a rich history like these countries do and that has made big advances in improving the quality of life of their people. 
    chia
  • Reply 17 of 21
    frantisekfrantisek Posts: 756member
    You can see here in article rapid adoption of Apple Pay in Czech Republic compare to Google Pay. Even without translation you see in table down users of Apple Pay, Google Play and alternative solutions by banks.

    Apple Pay is after two weeks, Google pay nearly year and half! Result is twice higher then banks expected.I my little store is score until now 5:0.


    Adding translated link:

    edited March 2019 chia
  • Reply 18 of 21
    CarnageCarnage Posts: 91member
    randominternetperson said:
    Rather embarrassing for Greece and Portugal to be in the same category as Estonia, Slovakia, and Slovenia.  Is there are a term for "first world" countries that aren't quite as "first world" as the others?  But hey, at least they are ahead of every African country and every Western Hemisphere country other than the US, Canada, and Brazil.

    You are so much better than the rest of the world. Look at you..
  • Reply 19 of 21
    net_limiternet_limiter Posts: 1member
    http://business-review.eu/money/ing-bank-to-launch-apple-pay-in-romania-in-the-second-half-of-2019-198663
    chia
  • Reply 20 of 21
    mac_128mac_128 Posts: 3,454member
    bfou said:
    You could use Apple Pay in Greece today for existing Apply Pay users around the world where NFC terminals are present.  Issuing banks in Greece and Apple haven't yet made any announcement, relating to existing and new card holders in Greece to enable Apply Pay.
    Thanks for clearing that up for me. 
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