Apple launches payments service in Germany following delay

FILE PHOTO: A man uses an iPhone 7 smartphone to demonstrate the mobile payment service Apple Pay at a cafe in Moscow, Russia, October 3, 2016. REUTERS/Maxim Zmeyev/File Photo

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Apple has launched its mobile payments service in Germany, four years after its start in the United States and trailing Google, which started its payments app in the country in June.

Customers at banks such as Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank unit Comdirect, Hypovereinsbank, Wirecard, Hanseatic Bank and of credit card providers Mastercard, Visa and American Express will from Tuesday be able to use Apple Pay, the companies said in separate statements.

Retailers such as discounters Aldi and Lidl, supermarket chain Kaufland, drugstores Rossmann and DM, department store chain Kaufhof, clothing retailers H&M, Esprit, C&A and Zara as well as consumer electronics chain MediaMarkt will accept payment with the app, which allows customers to pay contactless by holding their smartphone in front of a payment terminal.

FILE PHOTO: A man uses an Apple Watch to demonstrate the mobile payment service Apple Pay at a cafe in Moscow, Russia, October 3, 2016. REUTERS/Maxim Zmeyev/File Photo

While Apple has already launched its payment services in 20 other countries including France, Poland and Switzerland, a fight over fees had delayed the start in Germany.

(This version of the story corrects reference to Apple Pay in paragraph 2)

FILE PHOTO: Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of Internet Software and Service, introduces Apple Pay during an Apple event at the Flint Center in Cupertino, California, September 9, 2014. REUTERS/Stephen Lam/File Photo

(Reporting by Arno Schuetze; editing by Jason Neely and David Evans)