I just checked the app bundle. It seems to use the same webpage for displaying the table of fees on both iOS and Android. (There are iOS-specific URLs that say "ios" instead of "both") https://content.wirecard.com/boon/both/eur/en/fees.html
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Apple Pay Could Launch in Germany as Early as Next Month
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I just checked the app bundle. It seems to use the same webpage for displaying the table of fees on both iOS and Android. (There are iOS-specific URLs that say "ios" instead of "both") https://content.wirecard.com/boon/both/eur/en/fees.html
It was in my app,already one month ago. It was under Help. It think it is anyhow only a mobile web page that is shown. And the website is also for the Android Users, which can already use Boon in Germany. So no evidence for me for a change.
Interesting. I changed the boon. URL to https://content.wirecard.com/boon/both/eur/de/fees.html and it shows a translated, German specific site.
If you download the app from a different region, (e.g. Ireland), the app shows the site in English (although the rest of the app is localized). But there is a German site in place. Interesting here is, that the site uses /both/, indicating there is an app version for iOS too, in which the site in-app is (will be?) shown in German.
If you download the app from a different region, (e.g. Ireland), the app shows the site in English (although the rest of the app is localized). But there is a German site in place. Interesting here is, that the site uses /both/, indicating there is an app version for iOS too, in which the site in-app is (will be?) shown in German.
Boon is available for android users in Germany. That’s why their sites are in German.
Yeah, I know that. But wouldn't it make sense then if the URL would state that the site is for Android only, if they already have iOS-specific sites (/ios/) in place?
Get a Halifax Clarity Credit Card, works in any currency with zero transaction fees so long as u remember to clear balance & uses highest MasterCard currency rates for that day, if you're really stuck. I was bouncing around Germany 2years ago using
Pay, the hardest bit was trying to convince the stores to get the contactless reader out, but I had zero issues.😀Get a Halifax Clarity Credit Card, works in any currency with zero transaction fees so long as u remember to clear balance & uses highest MasterCard currency rates for that day, if you're really stuck. I was bouncing around Germany 2years ago using
"You must be aged 18 years or older and be a resident in the UK."
You know that we are (mostly) germans? Your proposal would be of no use for us...
Yeah, sir-hd said he already had UK cards, wasn't meaning as a solution to all, just sir-hd!🙂
Cheers! Thanks for the hint (although as said not much use to most in this thread)! I need to get round to consolidating my UK banking situation. It's starting to get out of hand 😀
Germany has seldom been at the forefront of tech and at the moment I'm ok with the boon solution (MasterCard) for Germany and my UK cards for the UK. I think the main argument for Apple Pay to start working here would be "Girocard kontaktlos". Most shops/stalls/ticket machines etc I know only take German Girocards (often I even still read "Hier zahlen mit EC Karte / KEINE KREDITKARTEN"!) and decline credit cards or other debit cards from abroad. Girocard acceptance is where a German Apple Pay would REALLY come in handy.
If I do see someone paying with card 99% of the time it's a Girokarte (and when I can catch a glimpse of the card most are from a local Volksbank/Sparkasse). If I or someone else do indeed pay with a regular credit card I have witnessed some shaking of heads or muttering in the queue. A credit card just doesn't fit into the "German payment vibe". Yet I still only use it for convenience and not to get stuff I can't afford. But the debt aspect still seems to be locked in peoples minds. Maybe even more so here in Swabia where cash, a contract with a building society and an expansive savings account is literally holy.
But as we've discussed in this thread we still seem to be a long way away from Apple Pay Germany happening anytime soon.
So, now we have monday. According to what sunny said, we should see a "slow rollout" in a few hours. Let's see if sunny2k1 is right. Unfortunately I fear, that he isn't.
I totally agree. Nevertheless, the situation was improved during the last 3 years, but still almost at 99% of small cafes bakeries do not accept any card. I got a credit card from Comdirect, because I was not able to buy a flight ticket using EC Karte or Paypal.
I dont think he meant with slow roll-out it pops up tomorrow without any announcement and people in Germany can start adding cards.
It will start when you get the first Newsletter of any internet/modern/hip bank in Germany. This could be in in a couple hours but I doubt it. I believe him/it will happen just not directly.
I think he meant all/enough devices called home for an update to their ApplePay database/got an some update and the hardware is ready. He sounds like he knows people in the implementation of the protocol between the banks and Apple's APIs and this is the kind of knowlodge these people have. Their dates which they can estimate are like those. They might not know the deals when/if a decision for some reason was made because there are problems - and with German banking software infrastructure they wont have fun. When everyone is ready it will start. I think they dont know the real date themselves just yet.
It will start when you get the first Newsletter of any internet/modern/hip bank in Germany. This could be in in a couple hours but I doubt it. I believe him/it will happen just not directly.
I think he meant all/enough devices called home for an update to their ApplePay database/got an some update and the hardware is ready. He sounds like he knows people in the implementation of the protocol between the banks and Apple's APIs and this is the kind of knowlodge these people have. Their dates which they can estimate are like those. They might not know the deals when/if a decision for some reason was made because there are problems - and with German banking software infrastructure they wont have fun. When everyone is ready it will start. I think they dont know the real date themselves just yet.
That’s something I don’t get as well. Where I live is only one bakery where I can pay with any type of card and even contactless. Restaurants and cafes don’t take cards at all in 9 out of 10 cases.
Situation in grocery stores has improved a lot in the last 12 month. I can actually pay in every shop I usually visit with credit, debit and Girocard. Still there are some places that only allow payment via card if you have a minimum amount of like 5 €.
On the other handed side you need a credit card to buy flights and book hotel rooms. Like how do people even do that if they don’t have a credit card? Not even with N26 you can book a flight because it’s a debit mastercard only. That overall situation just shows how broken Girocard is.
But most annoying part is when you take out your MasterCard and you start getting those looks from the cashier or other people. Like you can’t afford what you buy and you have to buy it on credit in order to feed your family. People associate credit cards with people that live from the hand to the mouth so to speak. People are not used to credit cards and that’s why we won’t see Apple Pay anytime soon since contactless Girocard support is a thing 90 % of banks don’t even offer yet.
I have never seen faces you describe (credit card). But I get faces with Apple Pay on my Watch, but that is an "interest face" ;-)
I do think shops changed a lot in the last year. Shops like Aldi, lidl, Edeka Never took credit before and now they do. Our bakery has an own payment system (member card) but that is really nerdy. The workers in the bakery are still looking weird when you want to pay. To me it looks like the following: cashiers in stores like Aldi, Lidl, Edeka, Rewe are trained for cashier services. In bakery's they are not at all. That's why technically they are sometimes really out of their scope. It's not meant offended, I believe they are not good trained for this and are learning by doing with a stress job, as people wait in the queue.
I do think shops changed a lot in the last year. Shops like Aldi, lidl, Edeka Never took credit before and now they do. Our bakery has an own payment system (member card) but that is really nerdy. The workers in the bakery are still looking weird when you want to pay. To me it looks like the following: cashiers in stores like Aldi, Lidl, Edeka, Rewe are trained for cashier services. In bakery's they are not at all. That's why technically they are sometimes really out of their scope. It's not meant offended, I believe they are not good trained for this and are learning by doing with a stress job, as people wait in the queue.
Considering that girocard (first ec card later girocard) has been around for about 50 years now if I'm not mistaken and you still cannot pay everywhere with card. 50 years! At that speed we might be able to pay at most stores with Apple Pay by the end of year 2068. I know I might be exaggerating now ... but it would be no surprise if it took really that long.
My wifes russian so Im very often in Russia with her. I've been there two weeks over the christmas holiday season and you know what I did only pay twice with cash. In the bus and at the airport to some guy who wrapped my suitcase with some protection cover. Everywhere else I could pay with my mastercard. No matter if it were 5000 rubles at sportmasters or 20 rubles at the bakery. Its like with internet. In Germany in a lot of places especially outside of bigger cities you cannot get fast internet at all. In Russia even in the smallest village 200 km from the next big city in the middle of nowhere I get a decent 100 mbits. I personally used to have 1&1 16.000 and only got 6 mbits. Only last year they finally managed to connect our building to faster internet so I get 100 mbits now too. But Im living in Ingolstadt so its not like we are that small of a place... And smae goes with mobile data plans. My sister in law pays 700 rubles on a MONTHLY basis for 15 GB PER DAY. Thats about 10 € a month for pretty much unlimited data usage. I pay 15 € for 1,5 GB per month. Thats just crazy. And its not just russia compare it to EU countries and itll blow your mind. Sometimes it feels like we are living in africa. But no wait in Africa they have a mobile payment solution for over a decade by now. Back in 2007 they created to mobile payment network M-Pesa. Even the bushman pay with their smartphones. Im really not kidding just check it out yourself.
My wifes russian so Im very often in Russia with her. I've been there two weeks over the christmas holiday season and you know what I did only pay twice with cash. In the bus and at the airport to some guy who wrapped my suitcase with some protection cover. Everywhere else I could pay with my mastercard. No matter if it were 5000 rubles at sportmasters or 20 rubles at the bakery. Its like with internet. In Germany in a lot of places especially outside of bigger cities you cannot get fast internet at all. In Russia even in the smallest village 200 km from the next big city in the middle of nowhere I get a decent 100 mbits. I personally used to have 1&1 16.000 and only got 6 mbits. Only last year they finally managed to connect our building to faster internet so I get 100 mbits now too. But Im living in Ingolstadt so its not like we are that small of a place... And smae goes with mobile data plans. My sister in law pays 700 rubles on a MONTHLY basis for 15 GB PER DAY. Thats about 10 € a month for pretty much unlimited data usage. I pay 15 € for 1,5 GB per month. Thats just crazy. And its not just russia compare it to EU countries and itll blow your mind. Sometimes it feels like we are living in africa. But no wait in Africa they have a mobile payment solution for over a decade by now. Back in 2007 they created to mobile payment network M-Pesa. Even the bushman pay with their smartphones. Im really not kidding just check it out yourself.
Really? In the Netherlands you can literally pay with Maestro everywhere and at the moment all the terminals are suitable for wireless payments. It is very rare that you can't pay wireless.
Big stores, small stores, restaurants, cafes, night clubs, market stalls, even at toilets by gas stations you can pay with Meastro and my guess is 95% have a terminal for wireless payments.
So I just don't understand why Apple Pay isn't available in the Netherlands yet. The Netherlands is ready for Apple Pay!
Yeap in case of big supermarkets like Rewe, Kaufland, Aldi, Edeka everything is fine you can pay via credit, debit, and EC card. I totally agree that overall situation is quite bad. You can not feel confident taking only Debit/Credit or Maestro card and go outside. You still need a cash.
docfred
macrumors 6502a
One of the reasons, that smaller shops in germany don't accept cards - especially credit cards - are the high fees that cc companies charged for many years and decades.
the profit margins at german retailers are very, very low compared to the US or UK for example (but also France, Italy, etc.). that's also the reason why big players like wal mart, tesco, etc. pulled out of the german market, just years after they started. they just did not earn anything or enough because of the low price level.
so if you plan with just 2 to 3% profit on every sales slip and the CC wants 2 to 4% of the sales volume too... you run into a conflict of aims.
the acceptance of credit cards rose as the EU established a fee cap for card payments.
the profit margins at german retailers are very, very low compared to the US or UK for example (but also France, Italy, etc.). that's also the reason why big players like wal mart, tesco, etc. pulled out of the german market, just years after they started. they just did not earn anything or enough because of the low price level.
so if you plan with just 2 to 3% profit on every sales slip and the CC wants 2 to 4% of the sales volume too... you run into a conflict of aims.
the acceptance of credit cards rose as the EU established a fee cap for card payments.
Well in The Netherlands you can pay everywhere with a debitcards (Mastro), creditcards only at restaurants, gasstations and some shops or places where a lot of tourist are.
The fees to pay with a debitcard are not that high over here for the shop owner. They pay 15 cent for a wireless transaction, and 19 cents with PIN.
Debit card fees were capped to 0,2% of the purchase price and credit card fees were limited to 0,3%.
docfred
macrumors 6502a
yes. now they are limited.
as I mentioned, the EU established a cap for the fees. since then, the acceptance of girocards and especially creditcards rose. even at smaller markets or middle-tier bakeries.
Yeah, I know.
I just wanted to provide some numbers to back it up.
News from N26:
Wir arbeiten bereits an Applepay. Die Technik-Abteilung läuft schon auf Hochtouren. Genaue Infos kann ich dir diesbezüglich jedoch nicht geben. Sobald es Informationen gibt, werden diese auch kommuniziert.
Its going to happen and you can see they are actually working on in it. Sunny will be right, it will be just arround the corner.
Wir arbeiten bereits an Applepay. Die Technik-Abteilung läuft schon auf Hochtouren. Genaue Infos kann ich dir diesbezüglich jedoch nicht geben. Sobald es Informationen gibt, werden diese auch kommuniziert.
Its going to happen and you can see they are actually working on in it. Sunny will be right, it will be just arround the corner.