Apple Releases Tap to Pay Service in Italy for Contactless Payments on iPhone

Apple's Tap to Pay feature on iPhone has been introduced in Italy, the tech giant announced on Wednesday, May 29.

According to 9to5mac, the contactless payment feature was recently made available in Japan and Canada. Like other countries where the capability is accessible, Apple has been collaborating closely with prominent Italian payment networks to enable them to offer their clients the Tap to Pay on iPhone.

According to Reuters, payment giants Stripe, Adyen, and Nexi have started offering Italian businesses an Apple iPhone-based payment solution for their clients.

Near-field communication, or NFC, is a wireless technology that enables short-range data exchange between devices. Apple's Tap to Pay service uses NFC. Tap to Pay allows retailers to take contactless payments through an iOS app compatible with an iPhone X or later model that has the most recent iOS version installed.

To process a payment, the retailer will only need to tell the customer to hold their Apple Watch, iPhone, or compatible NFC card close to the merchant's iPhone during checkout.

Italian Payment Platforms and Apple's Tap to Pay

Nexi is the biggest payments group in Europe based on the number of transactions processed. Shop owners were previously given the option to utilize the NexiSoftPOS application on their phones to process payments.

But until today, that could only be used on Android phones and not on Apple's iOs. Small shops can save money by processing payments using smartphones instead of purchasing specialized hardware.

The Dutch company Adyen also announced the introduction of its Tap to Pay service. Adyen primarily serves major corporate clients with e-commerce services, but it has been expanding its offering to include brick-and-mortar retailers. The service will be offered in Milanese luxury brand Prada's stores, beginning in Italy'.

Apple's Tap to Pay Woes

The expansion follows previous cases against Apple, in which the tech giant faced a hefty fine for its Tap to Pay technology. Two years ago, when rival mobile wallet software developers couldn't use Apple Pay's tap-and-go technology, the European Commission accused the company of suppressing competition for its mobile wallet.

After such cases, Apple had to make its contactless payment feature accessible to third parties. At the time, the policy's relaxation only applied to apps that could be used inside the European Union, not internationally.

To date, Apple has severely limited access to the iPhone's NFC contactless chip due to concerns about user experience, security, and privacy. Due to the lack of competition, Apple Pay has been the go-to contactless payment option for iPhone consumers.

Consumers can download alternative apps and set them as the default contactless payment app on their smartphones. The app will then be able to replace system features often associated with Apple Pay, such as double-click and near-field activation.