Wirecard announced Thursday (Nov. 10) that Orange’s mobile wallet app, Orange Cash, now accepts Apple Pay in France.
According to a press release, Wirecard, which supports the Orange Cash app, said that, with the launch of Orange Cash with Apple Pay in France, customers with an iPhone 6 and later will be able to take advantage of coupon and loyalty deals while they make payments with their mobile devices. “Together with Orange, we are offering the first app-to-wallet provisioning of an Apple Pay solution with Visa in Europe, which makes us proud,” Brigitte Häuser-Axtner, EVP of sales and digital goods with Wirecard, said in the press release.
The Orange Cash-enabled contactless mobile payments are based on a prepaid account with a digital Visa card, which is issued by Wirecard. The card is being provisioned via an app-to-wallet interface. Customers won’t have to scan a plastic card or go through additional verification, which increases the ease in starting up and using the secure payment method. Wirecard noted that security and privacy are a big focus of Apple Pay since the actual card numbers are not stored on the device or on Apple servers. Rather, a unique device account number is assigned, encrypted and stored in the so-called Secure Element on the device. Each transaction gets its own unique code that can be used one time.
“With Wirecard on our side, a leading specialist in the field of mobile payment, we found a strong partner. We are driven by our desire to further expand mobile payment coverage on the market. Our innovative spirit helps us to develop the most useful and advanced services for our customers. We believe Apple Pay is just that,” said Nicolas Lévi, director of payments and mobile financial services at Orange.