Apple Partnering With American Express on iPhone Mobile Payments Initiative [Updated]

[JeffyTheQuik]

Take careful note of that one, Apple Brainwash(tm) at pristine perfection!

A year ago the fanatic went like: "NFC? Apple doesn't need NFC! We have... um... Bluetooth! Go stick with your Android!"

Then half a year and some later: "Wut? NFC?! With my iPhone? Nevah gonna happen! We have... um... Bluetooth!"

And now the process of perfect iBrainwash has already started: "Now that I hear HOW APPLE is going to implement it, I'm starting to like it! In fact, I wasn't even aware that I NEEDED that so bad since long time!"


I'm curious how the fanatics cope with larger screen sizes where, y'know, the thumb cannot reach each corner anymore - a feature that had been emphasised over and over again by Apple in their ads, and the fanbois sang along! Soon: "Me? No, I NEVER said that! I ALWAYS wanted to have a LARGER iPhone!"

Gotcha... If you read some of my other posts, I will gladly admit when I change my mind on anything, and also, tell you why. For the record, if you go to iPhone5newsblog, you'll see me touting an iPadPhone.

It's the proposed implementations that I like. Mrs. TheQuick is the one that goes through that transformation...

"No, I don't need a PDA. I have a planner..."
"WHERE IS MY PDA???"

"I don't need a smartphone. I can just text who I need to."
"WHERE'S MY SMARTPHONE! I HAVE TO E-MAIL THIS PICTURE!"

"I don't need an iPhone. I have an iPod for my music and books on tape, and a phone."
"WHERE'S MY iPHONE?"

"We don't need "Find my iPhone""
*Hah! made you laugh...

 

[Roller]

AmEx has everything you mentioned in addition to automatic insurance against defective or lost/stolen goods. My brother was fully reimbursed by AmEx after his iPhone 5 was stolen, allowing him a brand new one without AppleCare (which doesn't cover lost or stolen devices, you still need to pony up). Depending on the AmEx card you have, benefits vary greatly. This past Spring, any AmEx card holder earned cash for iTunes purchases, it was a 3 month promotion, a "win/win". I've got a Chase Sapphire Preferred Visa, Platinum AmEx and an SPG AmEx, I find the rewards much better with AmEx.

I've had the same experience. Whenever I've had to take advantage of features such as loss/damage replacement, price protection, or warranty extension, Amex has been great to deal with. I carry a high-end MasterCard for the small number of merchants who don't accept Amex, but I rarely have to use it.

The Amex card I have also doesn't charge a foreign transaction fee. (Not all Amex cards do this.) That can save a significant amount of money traveling abroad.

I can't imagine getting along without a credit card. The only options would be cash or check, both inconvenient. Debit cards are fine if there's no choice, but there's much less recourse if you want to dispute a charge. Fraud is an issue with all credit cards, but in my experience it's resulted in no more than an inconvenience. Still, I wish they'd implement a better method for identifying the buyer, whether it's two-factor authentication for online or telephone transactions or biometrics for in-person purchases. The signature on the back of credit cards is a joke - retailers never check it.

 

[RedOrchestra]

maybe its different in the north, i live in the south of germany

CCs are accepted everywhere - the south even more so because it was the old American sector.

I can't think of a country in Europe (East, Central, or West) where I haven't had high percentage usage. Maybe people aren't using them BUT it ain't because businesses aren't accepting them.

 

[hopegrad]

It appears Visa, MasterCard and Amex are all involved ...

Here is the latest from Bloomberg.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-08-31/apple-said-to-team-with-visa-mastercard-on-iphone-wallet

 

[iGeek2014]

American Express acceptance in the UK is a lot better than it was many years ago.

The gas station I work in.... I find a lot of people asking if we accept it. I'm glad we do as I use it myself to gain reward points for things like iTunes vouchers!

Being able to link it to my iPhone without digging out the plastic will be great; I actually like using NFC.

 

[MarkusL]

And everything I've read about debit cards says that they're absolutely worthless when it comes to buyer protection so you may as well just use cash.

Maybe it's different depending on where you live, but here in Sweden there are no big differences. When I had a debit card it had pretty much the same insurances when it came to travel and electronics purchased with the card, and also no problems with reversing incorrect charges.

Once I had a laptop battery recalled by a company you may have heard about, they're called Apple. So I called them up and read them my serial number, which they accepted and sent me a replacement. I had to give them my card number as an insurance for them in case I failed to send back the defective battery. Anyway, got the replacement and sent back the old one, and while it was on its way back Apple changed their mind and reduced the range of serial numbers, such that when my battery arrived it no longer matched the range eligible for a replacement. So Apple abused my card number to charge me for a sale of the new battery. After about three or four phone calls they agreed to reverse the charge "within 6 to 8 weeks" (!) so I called my bank and asked for my money back. That operation took about 48 hours (it involved mailing a piece of paper back and forth since the bank needed my signature). Of course, if it had been a credit card and not a debit card it would just have been a fluctuation in the balance of a credit statement instead of my actual money going missing during this time, but in practice it's not a big difference.

 

[imicca]

There are lot's of concerns when using credit card and paying by touch id. I believe Apple has security for fingerprints which will only be stored in your device, but still, if someone has my fingerprints somehow - this could end up really bad.

 

[zipa]

The credit card companies make a charge to the retailer every time you use your credit/debit card to buy something. That can typically be around 2% of the purchase price. To the retailer this is simply another cost they need to pass on to the customer. So yes in a sense it does lead to higher prices. I've noticed that some low value shops like Subway have started putting up cash only signs to try and avoid these additional costs.

Some cards are rather expensive for the retailer, such as Amex and Diners. For the big ones (Visa, Master), you're talking about a fraction of a percent. Also, many people, even retailers, seem to think that cash has no cost attached to it, but that is obviously dead wrong.

 

[NovemberWhiskey]

credit cards to us means you buy things you cant actually afford

I hear this a lot from people, but it's really a stupid philosophy.

Credit cards have every advantage over cash/check/etc. All it takes is self control, and if you don't have that, I think that is less of the card's fault than your own.

1. Credit cards give you reward points. Not just 1% anymore, but up to 15% bonus cash at some retailers.

2. You never have to deal with change

3. You are protecting online purchases, and even regular purchases.

4. Credit cards offer insurance on a lot of the products you purchase with the card, along with many other different benefits

5. Every transaction you make is recorded for easy access later. You don't have to balance a checkbook, or try to remember what you spent with cash. It's broken down into spending charts, analyzed, etc.

6. It builds your CREDIT SCORE. This enables you to get LOANS in the future. Good luck getting one, or getting one with a decent interest rate, with NO credit history.

I'm curious as to how Germans handle loans, credit scores, and online purchases if no one uses credit cards. Or were you just being sensationalist in your description of how little they are used there.

If you pay off your balance in full at the end of every month, you never pay interest. You build your credit score. And you probably save a lot of money by getting rewards back.

 

[Xenomorph]

people in Germany have yet to adopt to credit cards let alone mobile payments lolol.

credit cards to us means you buy things you cant actually afford

Credit Cards give the buyer protection.

Theft? Unauthorized purchases? Shady dealer? If I used a credit card it's not my problem. I'm safe and my money is safe.

Cash, debit cards, personal checks, etc - all huge vectors of fraud.

Just because you have a credit card it doesn't mean you have spend beyond your means. Only charge what you know you can pay back quickly.

 

[Azzin]

And everything I've read about debit cards says that they're absolutely worthless when it comes to buyer protection so you may as well just use cash.

In the UK, that's a common misconception.

Visa debit cards definitely don't offer the same layers/levels of protection that credit cards do, but there are decent levels that people just don't know about.

I'll dig out some links and post back.

 

[D.T.]

I must have been answering the [?] part more then anything, and attempted to validate your guess.

Right on.

 

[JGIGS]

why would I need to carry ID? I live in a free *cough* country haha where I don't need to show ID to anyone

One good reason is if you're in an accident and they need to notify someone or figure out you medical history.

Just saying it not a bad idea to have it on you.

 

[BruiserB]

Wonder if this will be integrated with this (or a replacement for it):

https://www.paywithisis.com

 

[bushido]

I'm curious as to how Germans handle loans, credit scores, and online purchases if no one uses credit cards. Or were you just being sensationalist in your description of how little they are used there.

If you pay off your balance in full at the end of every month, you never pay interest. You build your credit score. And you probably save a lot of money by getting rewards back.

"[...] The survey found that 7.4% of transactions in Germany were paid by credit card last year. Card use in Germany also remains piddling by international standards. Last year, 56% of transactions in the U.K. and 45% of those in France were settled by card, compared with just 17% in Germany, according to data published last month by the European Central Bank. Indeed, Germany had the second-lowest card use of all EU countries, lower even than recent entrants to the club such as Bulgaria. One explanation for the anomaly is a cultural aversion to debt. The German word for debt — as Friedrich Nietzsche noted — is the same as the word for guilt, and Germans are more likely than other nationalities to associate it with a loss of control.

“Cash gives the user greater control over expenditure, because you can’t spend more than you have,” says Michael Kemmer, a board member at the Federal Association of German Banks.

Germans have less of a tendency to take on debt to fund consumption than their Anglo-Saxon counterparts, although they often do so to buy houses for instance, says Thomas Nau, country manager for American Express in Germany.


- WSJ

 

[travis64]

sucks the only credit card i don't have is American Express.i don't want to get hit with a credit pull to get one.hopfully we can use other cards too

 

[Zxxv]

One good reason is if you're in an accident and they need to notify someone or figure out you medical history.

Just saying it not a bad idea to have it on you.

well in that case unless I've lost all my fingers i'd guess they'd just put my finger on touch ID and have access to all the info they could ever need and then some

 

[Parasprite]

well in that case unless I've lost all my fingers i'd guess they'd just put my finger on touch ID and have access to all the info they could ever need and then some

Assuming the phone isn't damaged from the impact, of course.

 

[winston1236]

hopefully this will make some chinsy retailers reconsider accepting amex. that is my biggest gripe of amex. customer service is top notch.

They don't accept amex because amex is greedy and wants too much of a percentage of the sale.

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Credit Cards give the buyer protection.

Theft? Unauthorized purchases? Shady dealer? If I used a credit card it's not my problem. I'm safe and my money is safe.

Cash, debit cards, personal checks, etc - all huge vectors of fraud.

Just because you have a credit card it doesn't mean you have spend beyond your means. Only charge what you know you can pay back quickly.

That's what all the fools say who are paying the minimum payment on cards for a decade.

 

[garylapointe]

Helps AMEX

AMEX rocks. All I carry.
Good partnership indeed, was hoping for this.

And I would think that this would help American Express get into some locations that don't currently take it....

Gary

 

[StyxMaker]

Holy smokes, I was going to say “Yes and No” on that same point.



There are actually consumer laws in the US that prevent markup to cover CC. Also most merchants (especially larger operations) are more than happy to offset the “cost of doing business” CC fees for the much greater additional volume of transactions they’d have vs. an “all cash” business (outside of very small shops, or restaurants for example, we have a great local taco joint that’s cash only).



Side note: if it’s the sort of transaction that allows for it, you can always negotiate for a discount if you’re paying cash (even if the actual reason is unspoken). Bonus side note for cars: at branded retailers is doesn’t matter, and in fact, if you’re using the brands internal financing that can actually leverage a better price as they make points through that channel.

Even the food trucks in the medium sized central California city in which I live take credit/debit cards. The only place I need to use cash is at the farmer's market. I think that is for their income tax reporting convenience not for mine.

 

[groovyd]

They don't accept amex because amex is greedy and wants too much of a percentage of the sale.

... or the vendors are that type of cheap person who thinks they are saving a penny by throwing away a dollar. two sides to every argument.

 

[rish]

Nfc

people in Germany have yet to adopt to credit cards let alone mobile payments lolol.

credit cards to us means you buy things you cant actually afford

I cannot fault German consumers for having the right mentality towards their finance choices. I think it's brilliant and the rest of the world should follow that example. A debt is a debt whether a 0% loan or a credit card purchase with a great rate.

 

[JeffyTheQuik]

I cannot fault German consumers for having the right mentality towards their finance choices. I think it's brilliant and the rest of the world should follow that example. A debt is a debt whether a 0% loam or credit card with a great rate.

----------



I cannot fault German consumers for having the right mentality towards their finance choices. I think it's brilliant and the rest of the world should follow that example. A debt is a debt whether a 0% loan or a credit card purchase with a great rate.

www.daveramsey.com

 

[rish]

www.daveramsey.com

Yeah. I messed up posting.