ApplePay is preparing to disembark in more countries in South America. Apple payments service will be available soon in Argentina and Peru, as it became known in the last hours. Although the Cupertino firm did not make an official announcement, it did include the data on the platform’s website for Latin America.
If we enter the page From Apple Pay we can see that now it not only indicates “Available in Costa Rica”, but also incorporates the reference of the upcoming landing in the Argentine and Peruvian markets. Anyway, it is still unknown when they can be used in these countries, or its hypothetical reach to other South American nations.
As far as South America is concerned, Apple Pay today is only available in Brazil and Colombia. However, this will change very soon. There were already indications of the possible arrival of the service to Peru, because during the last week the Interbank bank had published some content in this regard; These included videos showing how to add your Visa cards to Apple’s Wallet app. However, shortly after all the material was deleted, which suggested that the financial institution had advanced the announcement.
In the case of Argentina, the incorporation of Apple Pay will be interesting because it will add to an ecosystem fintech very developed. Today this country has several very popular virtual wallets, with MercadoPago —from MercadoLibre— being the most used, but with other exponents such as Ualá and MODO (the latter belonging to the main banks in the country) with a significant number of users. And to this must be added a growing number of exchanges of cryptocurrencies that offer prepaid cards with cashback in Bitcoin and other cryptoactives for each purchase made.
Currently in Argentina the main means of payment contactless with mobile devices it is through QR codes, not with NFC chips. Let us even take into account that since November 2021 it has been in force in the country interoperability of QR codes to pay with any virtual wallet. That is why it will be important to see what place Apple Pay takes in the market, taking into account that the QR payment option has been rumored since iOS 14. Will Argentina be the ideal market to implement this long-awaited possibility?
Apple Pay advances through South America
With the confirmation that Argentina and Peru will soon be added to the list of countries in which Apple Pay is available, it is logical to think that the same thing will happen in the future with other markets in the region. In September of last year, Chile briefly enjoyed the service of the Californian firm.
It is that the Bank of Chile began to allow its users to add their cards to the Apple Wallet. However, shortly after it removed them because Apple had not yet announced the service in that country. And although towards the end of the year it included Apple Pay in its terms and conditions of service, there were no more news about it.
Beyond the lack of official dates for the arrival of Apple Pay in more South American countries, the company’s intentions are clear. That users have one more option to make their payments without contact will always be a welcome possibility.