Apple Brings Tap to Pay to 9 New European Countries

Apple is expanding Tap to Pay on iPhone to nine new countries in Europe.

The contactless payment method is now available in Bulgaria, Finland, Hungary, Liechtenstein, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland, the tech giant said Tuesday (March 18).

“With Tap to Pay on iPhone, merchants can accept contactless payments through a supporting iOS app on an iPhone Xs or later running the latest iOS version,” Apple said in a news release.

“At checkout, the merchant will simply prompt the customer to hold their contactless credit or debit card, iPhone or Apple Watch, or other digital wallets near the merchant’s iPhone, and the payment will be securely completed using NFC technology. No additional hardware is needed, so merchants can accept payments from wherever they do business.”

According to the release, the solution is available on a range of different payment platforms throughout Europe, including Adyen, myPOS, Revolut, Viva, Stripe, SumUp, Worldline, Nexi and PlanetPay. Tap to Pay on iPhone works with contactless credit and debit cards from American Express, Discover, Mastercard and Visa.

The announcement comes weeks after Visa revealed that Tap to Phone adoption has surged by 200% year over year around the world. In the U.S., U.K. and Brazil, rates have jumped to a combined 234% growth rate.

“Tap to Phone is a tech equalizer for businesses. Walk into some of the world’s largest retailers or go to your local farmer’s market and they’re using this same technology to accept payments right on their phone,” Mark Nelsen, global head of Consumer Products at Visa, told PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster in an interview in connection with the announcement.

The news is noteworthy for its relevance to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), with new small businesses accounting for 30% of “tap” sellers, according to Visa.

For these SMBs, Nelsen said, turning a smartphone into a point-of-sale device offers a more level playing field for small businesses. And by not having to invest in new hardware or setting up registers, formerly online-only SMBs  have an easier time shifting into the physical, brick-and-mortar realm.

“Think about how those SMBs operate and how they’re able to deliver a different consumer experience,” Nelson said. “Think about how they can set up their storefronts in a different way. It is very, very transformative. It’s less about the technology, which is clearly important, and more about the customer experience of walking into that store.”