Apple Pay is still in the news, and we don't know if it's exactly good or bad. It is that we recently received information that the last months of this year 2016 will arrive in France, meanwhile there is total silence about its arrival in Spain that was expected for the first months of the year and that we almost give up. The latest leaks obtained suggest that Apple Pay also has new directions for this year 2016, Japan, Brazil, Singapore and Hong Kong are the last countries where Apple Pay will arrive this year 2016 for the benefit of iOS users in those specific areas.
This information has been received 9to5Mac anonymously and revealing MasterCard's next steps with respect to this mobile payment technology. Precisely this information includes the arrival of Apple Pay to Japan, Brazil, Singapore and Hong Kong at the end of this year 2016 with the support of MasterCard, in the same way that American Express is leading the expansion of Apple Pay in other areas. Another of the countries included in this report is Canada, precisely one of the countries where only Apple Pay can be used thanks to the service offered by American Express.
FEu during the month of October when Tim Cook spoke about the arrival of Apple Pay in Spain, although it seems more and more a joke than a reality, since since then this possibility has not even been rumored. Meanwhile, all Apple Pay launches seem postponed to the end of the year, in short they would announce them together with the iPhone 7, a fact that is completely incomprehensible, since Apple is selling a device that includes a technology that does not it can be used for a year and a half now. We will continue waiting, we have no other choice.
It is a rather pessimistic article about the arrival of Pay to Spain. In October Tim Cook said he would arrive in 2016, early to be more specific. Apple is not that it discloses much information about the evolution of these processes and the announcement of its arrival in Spain would fit perfectly with the event that they are supposed to carry out in March. I am confident that Caixabank or BBVA, to give the most active examples in terms of adoption of new technologies, will participate in Apple Pay this year. Caixabank has just announced at MWC that it was going to be the first Spanish bank to work with Samsung Pay, more or less the same as Apple Pay. I suppose that Caixabank will follow in the footsteps of its American predecessors such as Chase or Bank of America and will not be on the side of Samsung or Apple, but will accept both systems. I repeat, I am quite optimistic about the arrival (almost imminent) of Apple Pay in Spain.