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UK shoppers will be able to buy using Apple Pay from next month

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UK shoppers will be able to use Apple Pay for the first time when it launches in this country next month.

Retailers including Ocado, Marks & Spencer and Waitrose will be among the first to use the service.

The launch was confirmed at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, where Apple said the service will be available for use at more than 250,000 locations including branches of Marks & Spencer, Costa, Waitrose and Transport for London.

Today Ocado said it was looking forward to offering the technology.

Lawrence Hene, retail director at Ocado, said: “Our customers love the convenience of checking out their grocery shop in just a few taps using our Ocado ‘On the Go’ iPad and iPhone apps, and Apple Pay will allow us to offer an even more convenient, secure and private way to shop. We’re excited to once again be pioneering new technology and we’re expecting our customers to welcome Apple Pay with open arms. ”

More than 70% of credit and debit cards in the UK will support the launch, it is reported.

MasterCard and Visa users will be able to use the new payment method, which relies on fingerprint recognition to authenticate transactions, from July. Owners of an iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus or Apple Watch will be able to use Apple Pay in shops using contactless technology, authenticating with their Touch ID, while app purchases will be confirmed using a fingerprint or passcode via these devices as well as iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3.

“Apple Pay, combined with MasterCard’s digital payments technology, gives consumers a simple, convenient and secure way to shop,” said Mark Barnett, president of MasterCard UK & Ireland, which is offering the technology through banks including HSBC, Santander, MBNA, NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland..

“MasterCard was first in the world to offer contactless and mobile payment solutions, and Britons have rapidly adopted tap and pay behaviour. In the UK, we make more than 10 contactless payments every second, and on Transport for London alone, commuters tap to pay over one million times a day. With this clear shift in payment preference so strongly embedded, we are excited that MasterCard cardholders will soon be able to make payments from some of their Apple devices, knowing that every purchase is secure and offers all the same guarantees and benefits they’ve come to expect from using their MasterCard.”

Visa, meanwhile, will accept Apple Pay through Visa contactless payment terminals located in retailers including Tesco, Marks & Spencer, Boots and in the Transport for London network, and is working with banks including Bank of Scotland, HSBC, Lloyds, Santander, TSB and Ulster Bank.

Jeremy Nicholds, executive director of mobile at Visa Europe, said: “Contactless payments are already widely embraced by millions of Visa cardholders across the country every day, so adding the simplicity and convenience of Apple Pay will catapult mobile payments into the mainstream. If people leave the house with one item, it’s their mobile phone – we’ve worked alongside Apple and the various banks involved to give customers a really seamless and exciting new payment experience through Apple Pay, so they have new ways to use their favourite Visa cards on the go and when shopping in the apps they love.”

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