Apple to launch Apple Pay in Britain

The technology giant Apple is set to introduce its sophisticated mobile payment system- Apple Pay in Britain this summer, according to a report by Telegraph, citing industry sources.

Apple is likely to announce the decision at its annual conference for developers in San Francisco.

To get this project running, Reuters claims the firm has been in talks with bankers and retailers since last year.

iPhone is already equipped with a wireless chip like those found in contactless payment cards which will allow an Apple Pay user to settle payment by waving the handset over a terminal.

The transport systems in London have already started accepting the Apple Pay from American tourists, said the report.

iPhone has cornered more than 40 percent of smartphone sales, and iPhone owners usually have high spending power.

Meanwhile, MasterCard's senior executive Mike Cowan said his company was totally ready to support this new payment system in United Kingdom.

In America, where Apple Pay was introduced in October, the company has been encouraging many merchants and retailers to adopt it, however, they seem to remain skeptical about the new payment service.      

Apple Pay comes with a new and heightened security protocol that deals with fraud in card payments, a major issue hindering the growth of mobile payment. 

Its security framework is a combination of existing security solutions. For data protection, it uses both encryption and tokenization to reduce sensitive data transmission down to one instance, Both device and user need to be authenticated, through a unique value that makes sure that the transaction is being made from an authorized device, and via a user authentication system to detect suspicious transactions. Apple Pay also requires fingerprint authorization using its Touch ID technology to stop fraudulent transactions.