The mobile payment and digital wallet service Apple Pay launched in Israel this week, Globes reported.

Israelis with iPhones will be able to pay at stores with their phones, something that Android users have already been able to do for several months via apps like Isracard’s Anypay, Bank Hapoalim’s Bit and Shufersal, CAL’s CallPay, First Int’l Bank’s FibiPay, and Israel Discount Bank’s Paybox.

Google Pay is also expected to arrive in Israel in the coming months.

Although iPhone only has a 30% market share in Israel, with most Israelis owning Androids that already have digital wallet capabilities, only 1% of payments in Israel are made that way compared with 20% in the EU, according to Mastercard.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)