![Brazilians will now be able to pay with their phones and watches. [image source: Shinya Suzuki - Flickr]](https://staticr1.blastingcdn.com/media/photogallery/2018/4/6/660x290/b_502x220x82/brazilians-will-now-be-able-to-pay-with-their-phones-and-watches-shinya-suzuki-via-flickr_1927305.jpg "Brazilians will now be able to pay with their phones and watches. [image source: Shinya Suzuki - Flickr]")
The ubiquitous feature, that many Apple owners use with their phones and watches, was launched in Brazil this past Wednesday. As of this moment, the only partnership that Apple Pay has with any bank is with Itaú Unibanco. According to Reuters, the bank stated that Apple Pay will be available during the 90-day exclusive period to Itaú’s estimated 1.2 million card holders. Some compatible merchants include Taco Bell, Starbucks, Drogaria Iguatemi, Pão de Açúcar, GPA SA, and local restaurants.
Your wallet, without the wallet
In order to be able to use the digital wallet service, consumers must have an iPhone 6 or higher or an Apple Watch linked to said iPhone.
During the 90-day period, local merchants, restaurants, and stores will be offering a discount for purchases made with Apple Pay. In an article reported by ZDNet, according to Itaú, the reason that they are doing all of this is to reduce friction with customers, avoiding issues such as payment delays in retail outlets or accidentally leaving your purse or wallet in your home.
Itaú Unibanco Holding SA is Brazil's largest private lender, the tenth largest bank in the world and the biggest Latin American bank. And with this deal that they have with Apple, it makes them the first South American country to obtain support from the Mobile Payment service. Besides the United States having Apple Pay support, other countries that have the feature are United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Italy, Russia and many more.
The competition
Unlike many other things that Apple makes for their products, they were one of the first tech companies to produce an application where customers can have a digital wallet filled with different credit cards, debit cards, gift cards and membership cards and then they can pay for the service, item or meal that they are procured.
And with features like Apple Pay Cash and Touch ID, they've become a threat to other services like Venmo and PayPal The service was created back in 2014 and other companies like Samsung and Google followed suit a year later.
Unlike Apple Pay being restricted to Apple devices only, Google Pay (formerly called Android Pay) works with a broad selection of Android phones, Android smartwatches, and iPhones.
Not only is it available on almost every phone out there, but it can even work with phones that have software as old as 4.4 KitKat. With Samsung Pay, something that they did was install a magnetic coil on their phones and watches. Because of this, patrons are able to use their devices on any conventional credit and debit card terminal.
These three organizations may have the differences and quarrels and all, but they are paving the path to a future where cash won't be needed and further in the future, neither will we need credit or debit cards.
