EASY ENROLMENT: “If your Visa card is already connected to your iTunes account, just enter the security code when you enrol in Apple Pay. To add a new Visa card, just snap a picture with your iPhone or enter it into Passbook.”

iPhone 6 and 6 Plus users with Visa cards issued by Bank of America, Capital One, Citi Bank, Chase and Wells Fargo Bank will be able to use Apple Pay in stores from launch on 20 October, Visa says.

“If a Visa account holder is already a member of iTunes, the cardholder can simply select the credit or debit card from their iTunes account as the default for Apple Pay purchases,” the payments network explains. “Alternatively, they can use Apple’s iSight camera to capture their Visa card information or manually type in their Visa payment card information.

“The first card added to Apple Pay automatically becomes the default account; however the account holder can go into Passbook at any time to change their default card or add a new card.”

Five hundred banks have now signed up to offer Apple Pay to their customers in the coming months, Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed on 16 October, and Visa says it “is actively working with its client base of thousands of US financial institutions to enable them to offer the new Apple Pay service to their account holders.”

A date for international availability of Apple Pay is yet to be made available, however. “Visa are working closely with Apple to bring this service to market in Europe, however at this stage we aren’t able to give a specific time frame for when it will be launched,” Visa Europe told NFC World+ when asked about a likely launch date.