Apple Pay

Apple Pay now supports instant donations to non-profits

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Apple news release:

Apple Pay is making it easier and more secure to donate to your favorite nonprofit organizations with just a touch. Apple Pay support for charitable donations kicks off today with nonprofits ranging from global organizations such as UNICEF to startups like charity: water, and more nonprofits will offer Apple Pay over the coming months so their supporters can make easy, secure and private payments.

Giving has never been so simple — by eliminating the need to enter billing and contact info, create an account or fill out long forms to check out, Apple Pay gives nonprofit supporters a way to donate instantly.

[UPDATE] Apple Pay arrives in Switzerland, Swiss bank nightmare becomes reality

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Finews:

The worst nightmare of Swiss banks has become a reality: starting Thursday, a heavyweight outsider begins offering a payment service in their home market. Apple has brought its payment app, Apple Pay, to Switzerland.

In June, finews.ch reported the imminent launch of Apple Pay in Switzerland. The introduction of the service is now being announced by Apple Pay’s partners in Switzerland, for example the kiosk operator Valora. Also on board from the financial world are the Ticino Corner Bank with the Cornercard, as well as the credit card operators Visa, Mastercard and Swiss Bankers.

And:

Apple Pay’s main local competitor, the payment app Twint, which is backed by banks like UBS, Credit Suisse, Zuercher Kantonalbank, Postfinance and Raiffeisen, as well as the retail giants Coop and Migros, will only be available in its new form in the autumn.

Twint faces another significant disadvantage against Apple Pay: Apple blocks NFC (Near Field Communication) technology in its smartphones for other payment operators. With a 50 per cent share of the smartphone market, that is a serious obstacle. It was already enough to cause the Swisscom payment app Tapit to fail.

In the meantime, Apple Pay can connect with the payment terminals of most Swiss retailers. The Bluetooth technology, which Twint relies on, is not yet widely used in stores.

The banks rolled their own payment app, Apple brought the phones and Apple Pay. Looks like Apple Pay’s tech is proving the winner here.

In Switzerland, you can now buy a bus ticket with your Apple Watch

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[VIDEO]: Cominmag, via Google Translate:

In late April 2016, the company FAIRTIQ SA has radically simplified the purchase of tickets by launching the application that bears his name in conjunction with public transport Fribourg (TPF) and Lucerne and the Rhaetian Railway. Until then, to get a ticket, users were faced with sometimes complicated tariff systems.

The FAIRTIQ innovation has transformed this event into a breeze: the passenger signals the start of his journey with a click before boarding the vehicle and terminates in the same way once arrived. Thanks to the GPS, the system calculates the distance traveled and the corresponding ticket most advantageous. If the user makes several trips in a day and a day pass would have proved a more economical option for him FAIRTIQ not charge him the amount of the daily chart in question. Also, if you forget the part of the user, the application automatically calls to end the trip.

In the main post is a video showing the app at work. I find this sort of 3rd party integration of Apple Watch and Apple Pay a sign of thing to come and of critical mass in the adoption of both.

Australia denies banks approval to jointly negotiate with Apple on ApplePay fees

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Reuters:

Australia’s anti-trust regulator on Friday said it would not grant the country’s three biggest banks interim approval to collectively negotiate with Apple Inc to install their own electronic payments applications on iPhones.

Australia’s three biggest banks, including the number one lender National Australia Bank (NAB), last month lodged a joint application seeking permission to negotiate as a bloc from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

The ACCC said that its decision not to grant the banks the interim ruling was not indicative of whether the full ruling, expected in October, would be successful or not.

And:

Apple, which operates its own Apple Pay mobile wallet, does not allow third-party electronic payment apps to be loaded onto to the hugely popular smartphones. The banks are seeking to be able to negotiate jointly for access to Apple’s phones without themselves being accused of violating anti-competition law.

The three Australian banks contend that while Apple allows apps on iPhones using other commonplace technology, such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, restricting the technology through which mobile wallets function – known as Near Field Technology – constitutes anti-competitive behaviour.

Again, this is an interim decision. The full ruling will occur in October. Hard to say whether this is in any way a good indicator.

Top Australian banks pursue collective boycott of Apple Pay

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Graham Spencer, writing for MacStories:

In a rather extraordinary move, four of Australia’s largest banks have written to Australia’s competition regulator requesting permission to join together in a collective boycott whilst they negotiate with third-party mobile wallet services including Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay.

And:

At the heart of their request is the claim that third party wallet providers have the power to “impose highly restrictive terms and conditions”. The banks point out that 90% of smartphones sold in Australia run iOS or Android, and Samsung is the leading manufacturer of Android phones. Therefore, they claim, Google has significant bargaining power over Android, Samsung over Galaxy phones, and Apple over iPhones. But it is Apple that the banks say “has particularly significant bargaining power in negotiations relating to Apple Pay due to its control of both a key operating system and key mobile hardware”. They point out that in Australia the iPhone has a share of 41.2% of the market and Apple sells the two most popular phones on the market.

And:

The banks also make the argument that Apple has refused to permit third-party apps from accessing the NFC functionality contained in recent iPhones, unlike other manufacturers. They argue that it is inconsistent with other hardware and software features Apple has introduced such as the iPhone camera, accelerometer, and Touch ID sensor which are available to third-parties.

This is a first domino, a potential precedent.

Apple Pay launches in France

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Graham Spencer, writing for MacStories:

Starting today, Apple Pay is now available in France for credit and debit cards issued by Banque Populaire, Ticket Restaurant, Carrefour Banque, and Caisse d’Epargne. Apple’s website also notes that support will soon be added for cards issued by Boon and Orange.

Out of the 4 big banks in France, just BPCE is supported (Banque Populaire and Caisse d’Epargne merged to become BPCE in 2009). There is no word on when cards issued by the other three big banks (BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole or Société Générale) will be supported by Apple Pay.

Here’s a link to the official Apple announcement page (in French).

The future of Apple Pay, and a wrist experiment

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Jonny Evans, writing for Computerworld, weighs in with his predictions for the future of Apple Pay. One in particular struck me:

Banks are developing cash machines with NFC support. I imagine these will demand both a biometric element and passcode in order to protect against theft, but one day you will inevitably be able to withdraw cash from any ATM anywhere just by waggling your Apple Watch above the machine.

Apple vs the FBI: Follow the money

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Charlie Stross homes in on the core problem with an FBI backdoor into iOS . It involves the world’s payment/credit card infrastructure. Fascinating take.

Apple Pay coming to the web later this year

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I wonder how this will impact PayPal. Will Apple create an ecosystem where I can generate a bill and have someone pay me (or vice versa), all using Apple Pay?

Apple Pay coming to 8,000 ExxonMobil gas stations by mid-year

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Lauren Goode, writing for The Verge:

ExxonMobil today said it would start accepting Apple Pay as a form of payment at around 6,000 ExxonMobil gas stations around the U.S, something that Apple CEO Tim Cook had said was coming during the company’s first quarter earnings call.

Interesting.

Too many people try to sign up on Apple Pay’s first day in China

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Sounds like Apple may have underestimated demand for Apple Pay in China. Short term a problem. Longer term, a nice problem to have. UPDATE: Sounds like Apple is turning on Apple Pay in waves, not unanticipated demand. See the update in my post.

Hands on with Apple Pay competitor CurrentC

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If you are interested in the payments market, this is a good read. But the bottom line is the real takeaway. A recommendation from a real CurrentC user.

The state of Apple Pay

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Fantastic writeup by Graham Spencer, writing for MacStories.net, on the progress and sticking points of global adoption of Apple Pay.

Apple Pay now works with PayAnywhere credit card reader

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CNBC:

Apple’s mobile payments service will now work with PayAnywhere, a credit card reader serving 300,000 locations across the country. The newest version of the PayAnywhere reader will be available exclusively in Apple Stores nationwide.