Apple Pay appears to be on the way to Brazil

At present, Apple Pay is only making a big splash in one place – the United States. But Apple has publicly stated that it wants to expand the payment system everywhere as soon as possible. Now comes word from Brazil that three banks in the South American country are negotiating with Apple to bring Apple Pay to their customers.

As Season Business reporter Guilherme Felitti notes in an article today, banks Bank of Brazil, Bradesco, and Itáu are in talks with Apple about Apple Pay. Felitti says that “Technically, all the factors to make Apple Pay work in Brazil are already lined up.” The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are being sold in Brazil, and almost 80 percent of the retail terminals installed by the two top providers are already compatible with Near Field Communication (NFC) – a key part of the overall Apple Pay system.

In fact, Felitti notes that if an iPhone 6 or 6 Plus user has a US-issued credit card, they can already use Apple Pay in Brazil. A video was circulated on Facebook and Twitter in December of 2014 showing Apple Pay at work in a mall on a Cielo handheld terminal:

Our take on the news: Apple Pay is definitely on the way around the world, having already achieved a surprisingly high level of acceptance in the US. Apple CEO Tim Cook has said that 2015 will be the “year of Apple Pay”, with talks also underway in Europe and China.