 In February 2014, Mastercard announced that it would partner with Weve, which is a joint venture between EE, Telefónica UK, and Vodafone UK, to focus on mobile payments.The partnership will promote the development of "contactless mobile payment systems" by creating a universal platform in Europe for it.On 9 September 2014, Apple Inc. announced Apple Pay, a proprietary form of contactless payment integrated with its popular smartphone hardware, with the release of the iPhone 6.