Just after Apple Pay officially launched in Mexico this week, a hint has surfaced that Apple’s secure payment platform could be close to debuting in Israel as well.
Israel has been seeing a notable expansion of updated payment systems across the country in recent months to handle EMV and NFC transactions like Apple Pay. Reported by The Verifier (via Google Translate), online-bank/credit card company Pepper released an update for its iOS app with a “Version surprise!”
Users in Israel who were quick to update to version 6.3.2 saw a splash screen with an invitation to add their Pepper card to Apple Pay. However, actually going through the process created an error for those who tried.
Confirming that it jumped the gun before Apple was actually ready to launch the service in Israel, Pepper quickly removed all mentions of Apple Pay from its latest iOS update.
This could hint that a launch in the country is close, however, it’s no guarantee. For example, Apple Pay just launched in Mexico this week (February 23) and we saw several false alarms starting 9 months earlier. Back in May 2020, users in Mexico were able to add cards to the Wallet app. Then in December, Apple said on its website that Apple Pay was coming “very soon” before changing it to say “Available in 2021” and finally arriving in February.
The Verifier says that there aren’t any issues holding up Apple Pay from launching in Israel when it comes to government regulation and that other banks like Hapoalim and Bank Leumi are ready jump on board with Apple’s payment platform.
We’ll have to wait and see how soon or long it might be until official Apple Pay support lands in Israel.
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