With Apple Pay, iPhone and Apple Watch can replace debit or credit cards. Simply holding the device up to the terminal initiates the payment process.
Apple's payment service was introduced in the USA in October 2014. Now Apple Pay is finally coming to Germany. Tim Cook announced this when the quarterly figures were published in July. He did not give an exact launch date at the time. Nevertheless, it should start soon, as Apple has already published a list of partners. Apple's banking partners include Deutsche Bank, Hypo Vereinsbank, Hanseatic Bank, Fidor, Comdirect, O2 Banking, N26, bunq, boon, Vimpay and Edenred. Visa, MasterCard + Maestro and American Express are also involved. But what about Sparkasse and DKB?
Project “Diamond”
If recent rumors are to be believed, customers of both banks will have to wait even longer. According to a report, Sparkasse is working on Project "Diamond." This involves implementing Apple Pay into the bank's general offering. Since Sparkasse only releases two major updates each year, there are two possible dates for 2019. Release 19.0 is planned for April 2019, and Release 19.1 for November 2019. According to the report, Apple Pay's launch is more likely in the second update. For Sparkasse customers, that would mean another year of waiting. At DKB, however, things are expected to move faster. According to current rumors, Apple Pay is scheduled to launch as early as April 2019.
As always, please note that these are rumors and not confirmed information. Apple Pay payments are possible at any NFC-enabled payment terminal in stores - if it supports contactless payments.
