Apple Pay, the company’s digital wallet has been launched in UAE. Anyone using credit cards from six UAE banks – Mashreq, Emirates NBD, Emirates Islamic, RAK Bank, HSBC, or Standard Chartered – and having an iPhone 6 or later will be able to use Apple Pay.
In store, all you have to do is place your finger on your iPhone’s touch ID and hold your phone within a few centimetres of the contactless reader until you see ‘done’ and a checkmark on display. Paying with Apple Watch is just as simple; double-click the side button while keeping your Apple Watch close to the contactless reader and wait until you feel a gentle tap. For online purchases – simply select the ‘Buy with Apple Pay’ option, then enter your passcode or Touch ID.
The UAE, along with Sweden, Finland and Denmark, will bring the total number of countries with Apple Pay to twenty. This will be the first time the service is available in the Middle East. Apple Pay will compete directly with Samsung Pay, launched in April, and BEAM, an e-payment service available since 2012.
Apple Pay uses a process called “tokenization” to make payments secure. A token replaces all of a user’s unique, sensitive data with information that cannot be used in any other way. Users will be able to see a short list of all recent payments made with Apple Pay, but that’s it. The launch of Apple Pay in the UAE comes as the country continues to see an increase in e-commerce.
Retailers accepting the payments include Starbucks, Debenhams, Boots, Virgin Megastore, Zara, Carrefour UAE, VOX Cinemas, Sharaf DG, Ikea, Marks & Spencer, Costa, Waitrose, Caffe Nero.
