Apple Pay To Be Available In US From Oct. 20

(RTTNews) - Apple Inc. (AAPL) said Thursday that Apple Pay will be available in the US from Monday, October 20.

Apple Pay offers an easy, secure and private way to pay using Touch ID on iPhone® 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in stores and within apps. Users of the just-announced iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3 will be able to use Touch ID on their devices for Apple Pay within apps. The new service will be enabled by a free software update to iOS 8.

Apple Pay is designed to protect the user's personal information. It doesn't collect any transaction information that can be tied back to a user and payment transactions are between the user, the merchant and the user's bank.

Apple Pay supports credit and debit cards from the three major payment networks, American Express, MasterCard and Visa, issued by the top US banks. In addition to American Express, Bank of America, Capital One Bank, Chase, Citi, Wells Fargo and others, who announced support in September, more than 500 new banks from across the country have signed on to Apple Pay.

Users can make purchases in stores and within apps, with credit cards issued by many of the leading banks nationwide, which make up 83% of the credit card purchase volume in the US.