Finally! If you have an iPhone… soon you’ll be able to use it to pay for stuff

Apple Pay has finally reached Ireland.

After two years of trials in the States, Apple has announced that they will extend the payment method to Irish customers. It means that you will now be able to pay for goods or services by using your iPhone. It's available to iPhone 6 and later versions, iWatches and the newer iPads. Currently, KBC and Ulster Bank are the only banks signed up for the service. A number of Irish businesses have already signed up including Insomnia, Centra, and Applegreen. According to RTÉ, Apple Vice-President, Jennifer Bailey, has said:

"The rollout passage of Apple Pay takes work in terms of integrating together with banks and with networks, and obviously with Apple as well. So it is really a process about working through, doing that work with all the different parties and getting folks ready for a particular country. We're currently in conversation with banks across the world about supporting Apple Pay, adding new feature support for Apple Pay and we look forward to bringing Apple Pay to more of our customers in Ireland with additional banks."

Eddie Dillon, director of innovation at KBC, has said:

"We’ve seen a surge, particularly in the last year. There’s been a near 80 per cent increase in the volume of digital online traffic from our existing online customer base. They’re aware of this capability."

Meanwhile, Ulster Bank’s director of customer experience and products Maeve McMahon has welcomed the service saying:

“It’s part of our customer-centric innovation strategy. In terms of our number, the customer numbers using mobile banking services is up 22% in 2016 over 2015. The way people are banking is changing.”