Three banks in the Wilmington area are among those whose credit and debit cards will be in the new Apple Pay network, Apple announced Tuesday during its unveiling of the new service.
 
Customers of PNC, Bank of America and Wells Fargo who have iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus will be able to use their phones to make retail, restaurant and some hospitality purchases, according to a news release from Apple, which added that Apple Pay will also work with the newly announced Apple Watch, extending the service to more than 200 million owners of iPhone 5, iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s worldwide. 

"We’re excited to work closely with Apple to offer PNC Bank customers an easier and secure way to make in-store and online purchases,” Thomas Kunz, senior vice president of digital at Pittsburgh-based PNC, said in an email. “We look forward to continuing with the implementation process of the tool and providing access to our customers."

PNC Bank has the sixth-largest retail banking market share in the Wilmington market. Wells Fargo has the second-largest market share, and Bank of America has the fourth-largest.
 
Among the area retailers in Apple Pay’s initial network are Whole Foods Market, McDonald’s, Staples, Subway and Walgreens, the release stated. Apple plans to add more retailers as it implements its new technology.
 
“Apple Pay will change the way you pay. When you add a credit or debit card with Apple Pay, the actual card numbers are not stored on the device nor on Apple servers. Instead, a unique Device Account Number is assigned, encrypted and securely stored in the Secure Element on your iPhone or Apple Watch,” the release stated. “Each transaction is authorized with a one-time unique number using your Device Account Number and instead of using the security code from the back of your card, Apple Pay creates a dynamic security code to securely validate each transaction.” 
 
Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet software and services, said Apple Pay will create a more secure, private transaction method.

“Security and privacy is at the core of Apple Pay,” he said. “When you’re using Apple Pay in a store, restaurant or other merchant, cashiers will no longer see your name, credit card number or security code, helping to reduce the potential for fraud. Apple doesn’t collect your purchase history, so we don’t know what you bought, where you bought it or how much you paid for it. And if your iPhone is lost or stolen, you can use Find My iPhone to quickly suspend payments from that device.”