The Revolution of Mobile Payments: APPLE's Global Expansion of Tap to Pay

Just like with the SquareReader, APPLE is gradually expanding its Tap to Pay on iPhone (which uses the mobile device’s near field communications [NFC] capabilities) to more countries. The latest to receive the feature is Italy.

APPLE Spreads Its Wings to Italy with Tap to Pay

The news that APPLE has launched its Tap to Pay feature in Italy follows right on the heels of its deployment in Canada and Japan, demonstrating the company’s determination to make the tap-to-pay feature available around the world. In Italy, the tech giant has partnered with the main payment platforms, such as Nexi SoftPOS and SumUp.

The Mechanics Behind APPLE's Tap to Pay

If you’ve never heard of Tap to Pay, it essentially turns your iPhone Xs (or any later model) into a payment terminal as long as it is on the latest version of iOS. Any merchant can take payment via their iPhone, allowing the customer to pay with their iPhone or APPLE Watch (or any NFC-enabled payment card) by simply bringing it near their iPhone.

The process makes use of Near Field Communication (NFC) tech, so payments are both fast and secure, without the need for any hardware. App developers in supported countries can add Tap to Pay functionality to iOS apps with an API available from iOS 15.4.

APPLE's Vision for a Smoother Payment Experience

Bringing Tap to Pay to Italy is the latest step in APPLE’s mission to make it simpler for all of us to pay for things more smoothly, wherever we are in the world. The feature, originally launched in the US in 2022, has already been rolled out to a number of countries, including the UK, France, Taiwan, Australia, the Netherlands, Brazil, Ukraine, Japan and Canada.

Beyond Italy: What's Next for APPLE?

This reinforces APPLE’s own ambitions to spearhead the digital payments revolution: since its first explicit support for contactless payments in 2014, the company has been guided by the principle that payments should be hassle-free and secure as possible. This latest move from APPLE to expand Tap to Pay is a further confirmation of those ambitions. It’s a safe bet that payments made with an APPLE iPhone or APPLE Watch will always be the easiest and most secure way of settling a bill.

Separately, APPLE is pursuing a variety of initiatives to further fuel innovation in this space, such as opening the NFC chip in iPhones to alternative payments services in many parts of Europe, and integrating Passe Navigo into the Wallet app for iPhone and APPLE Watch users in Paris. Meanwhile, APPLE is overhauling its APPLE Card, redesigning the card itself in titanium as the existing one reaches its expiration date.

APPLE's Journey Continues

The global launch of Tap to Pay on iPhone is just the next step in APPLE’s efforts to control the world of mobile payments. Through their partnerships with payment rails and through constant innovation, APPLE is not just redefining the transaction itself, but with each update, it’s enhancing the consumer’s experience.

About APPLE

Founded in April 1976 in the garage of Steve Jobs’s childhood home in California, APPLE Inc has grown from a small startup to one of the world’s most valuable and influential tech companies. With products that are both easy to use and aesthetically beautiful, APPLE launched the iPhone in 2007, the iPad in 2010, and the Mac in 1984. Also known for its software and digital services, APPLE is now bringing its best-in-class user experience to financial technologies. Features such as Tap to Pay on iPhone are part of APPLE’s ongoing innovation to create an ecosystem that’s usable, secure and flexible – an extension of the company’s vision to build advanced technology that makes life easier and better.