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Ok this is getting ridiculous. Like honestly, almost every country in the EU has or is gonna get Apple Pay besides The Netherlands, one of the biggest economies in the EU. What is the holdup? I’ve used Apple Pay using a workaround via bunq here in the Netherlands and have had zero places where I couldn’t use it, so that can’t be it. ING, which is a Dutch bank, supports Apple Pay in several countries so you already have two banks down here who theoretically could support it.

Here in Iceland, every single payment terminal is a wireless one and they have been for years. Each terminal also accepts Apple Pay for whoever has access to it through another country but we don't have it available ourselves... But who am I kidding, we don't even have a Books- or iTunes Store. You'd think that a country where most people use iOS devices would have at least access to that.
 
It's mostly a bank imposed restriction. In many European countries (I don't know about the Netherlands) several banks have their own Mobile Pay alternatives and as a result see Apple as a competitor. It also has to do with buying habits and commissions that banks collect.

The story might be different. The payment system in The Netherlands is too efficient. The rates per payment are too low and the penetration of contactless payment is relatively high in NL. This offers very little opportunity for Apple to make a sizeable income in The Netherlands.

https://www.nu.nl/mobiel/5623808/waarom-er-nog-geen-apple-pay-in-nederland.html

What I find annoying is: sure, Apple can decide not to roll out Apple Pay in The Netherlands because the margins are too thin. But then at least open up the possibility for Dutch banks to use the NFC hardware. It is quite embarrassing that iPhone users are in the stone age, whereas Android users can pay virtually everywhere with their phone. Luckily it is only a minor convenience, since nearly all bank cards support contactless payment, but it would be really nice if I only had to take my phone with me.
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Here in Iceland, every single payment terminal is a wireless one and they have been for years. Each terminal also accepts Apple Pay for whoever has access to it through another country but we don't have it available ourselves...

The situation is pretty much the same here in NL, at least you can pay contactless nearly everywhere and a lot of people do so. I pay contactless pretty much every day (with my bank card). My Android-wielding friends can pay contactless with their phones.
 
Rediculous. I also live in the Netherlands. I have an account with ING and ABNAMRO. Both large banks. And none of 'm are going to offer Apple Pay. It's a bloody shame.
 
I wasn’t aware that there was any money left in Greece. #gallowshumor

(Sry to my Greek friends)

Yes lets email Tim to ask why it isn’t available in the Netherlands. It’s weird. All our neighbours have it.
Tim may have the answer, but rest assured it has nothing to do with Tim.

Applepay. Just another way for apple to get their grubby mitts into your wallet.

Paying for stuff the other way was just SOOOO hard. Thank god apple has come along to make our first world lives ever so slightly easier.
So you’re saving your odd pay rage for Apple, or do you also have a problem with Samsung Pay? And Walmart Pay? And Google Pay? And Chase Pay? And Venmo? And Square Wallet? And Chirpify? And PayPal? And Zipmark? And Due? And Biyo? And? And? And?

Or are Apple’s grubby mitts in the digital wallet space somehow extra grubby?
 
That means exactly what is in the tweet and in the macrumors article. That Apple Pay is coming to banks that operate in Portugal.

Sure you can already use Apple Pay in Portugal if you have it set up with a bank of another country. Portuguese merchants are migrating to contactless payments so if you see a contactless terminal you basically can use Apple Pay.

The news is about banks that operate in Portugal supporting it. Currently none does.

Do you think Millennium bcp will support it? They have MB WAY already, what's the advantage of supporting Apple Pay as well?
 
The story might be different. The payment system in The Netherlands is too efficient. The rates per payment are too low and the penetration of contactless payment is relatively high in NL. This offers very little opportunity for Apple to make a sizeable income in The Netherlands.

https://www.nu.nl/mobiel/5623808/waarom-er-nog-geen-apple-pay-in-nederland.html

What I find annoying is: sure, Apple can decide not to roll out Apple Pay in The Netherlands because the margins are too thin. But then at least open up the possibility for Dutch banks to use the NFC hardware. It is quite embarrassing that iPhone users are in the stone age, whereas Android users can pay virtually everywhere with their phone. Luckily it is only a minor convenience, since nearly all bank cards support contactless payment, but it would be really nice if I only had to take my phone with me.
It's both Apple's and the banks' problem then. Apple collects a certain percentage per transaction (analysts have estimated about 0.15% per transaction at least for the US). It negotiates better deals in other countries if necessary but if a bank is already charging a very small amount per transaction, it doesn't make sense to pay Apple 0.15% per transaction. As for why the NFC chip isn't enabled, I guess it's a mix of Apple wanting to force people into Apple Pay while keeping the platform secure.
 
I'm with ABN AMRO and wallet is supported (for ages now) on all Android devices. iPhone not. Bloody joke, mate.
[doublepost=1553693607][/doublepost]Personally I think it's an Apple Greed problem. Banks here don't take too kindly to giving a cut to Apple and the Netherlands has the one of the best banking infrastructure in the world and we had PIN payments before most other countries.

Interesting article here about it:
https://www.nu.nl/mobiel/5623808/waarom-er-nog-geen-apple-pay-in-nederland.html

While I cannot offer an answer to the original question (why no Apple Pay in NL), it needs to be said that PIN payment is actually a step back. While it was the merchant's risk to accept a credit card in the days when we still had to sign the slip, it is now the end customer's risk to pay with it and now the customer must present evidence that the PIN has not gotten out of hands or has been properly protected. Of course, the CC companies rarely charge someone for something which is obviously CC fraud (because they want people to continue using credit cards), but the burden of proof has been reversed.

H.
 
I use ApplePay for a while now in Austria using a fidor bank account. Comes in handy when I forgot the wallet, but it's not a payment revolution either as it just piggy backs on VISA & MasterCard (which we rely too much on).
In Austria I much prefer BlueCode where available, which uses its own system, anonymizing the transaction on the merchant side. Payment is then done via SEPA debit to BlueCode, which keeps the cost at the minimum.
 
This is great. I travel frequently to Portugal and even though they have tap payments, Apple Pay fails more often than not. It’ll be good to be able to just carry my Watch or iPhone like I do in Toronto. Wallet Free since 2016.

Portugal has a very strong cashless culture with their bank machines a central part of every day life. Apple Pay will do very well there.

This makes no sense to me. POS terminals don’t need to do anything to accept Apple Pay. If they accept NFC contactless cards, then they accept Apple Pay.

It’s the issuing bank for your debit/credit card that needs to make changes to their system to support Apple Pay. I also travel a lot and have used Apple Pay in countries where it wasn’t available and it worked fine.
 
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The story might be different. The payment system in The Netherlands is too efficient. The rates per payment are too low and the penetration of contactless payment is relatively high in NL. This offers very little opportunity for Apple to make a sizeable income in The Netherlands.

https://www.nu.nl/mobiel/5623808/waarom-er-nog-geen-apple-pay-in-nederland.html

What I find annoying is: sure, Apple can decide not to roll out Apple Pay in The Netherlands because the margins are too thin. But then at least open up the possibility for Dutch banks to use the NFC hardware. It is quite embarrassing that iPhone users are in the stone age, whereas Android users can pay virtually everywhere with their phone. Luckily it is only a minor convenience, since nearly all bank cards support contactless payment, but it would be really nice if I only had to take my phone with me.
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The situation is pretty much the same here in NL, at least you can pay contactless nearly everywhere and a lot of people do so. I pay contactless pretty much every day (with my bank card). My Android-wielding friends can pay contactless with their phones.

The payment system in The Netherlands is cheap and efficient indeed, but there is a strange thing going on.
I've got apple payment with a Dutch Bunq account, that was possible for 8 or 10 hours due to a 'mistake' made by Bunq. but this feature was revoked at the command of Apple.
So there are banks willing to make Apple Pay available, but Apple doesn't want just any bank, they want at least one big bank.

On the other hand, banks don't want to loose the money they can make by selling market reports. How retail is doing, what trends are in spending, which market is going up/down/sideways. When clients use Apple Pay, the banks can't collect al this information any longer, so they loose money. In other countries that had less efficient inter-bank-payment systems, this loss and the cost of Apple Pay was offset with the much more efficient payment system from Apple. In The Netherlands, with it's highly integrated and efficient Maestro/ideal systems (a single payment can cost as little as 0.3 cents no matter how big the payment is), banks loose out on selling data and they get a slightly more expensive system from Apple.

My not-so-humble-opinion is that 80% blame is with the banks and 20% is with Apple.

And just for the record: wireless card payments are much less convenient then Apple Pay with my Watch. It's so smooth and effortless you're loosing money even faster :-D
 
I wasn’t aware that there was any money left in Greece. #gallowshumor

(Sry to my Greek friends)


Tim may have the answer, but rest assured it has nothing to do with Tim.


So you’re saving your odd pay rage for Apple, or do you also have a problem with Samsung Pay? And Walmart Pay? And Google Pay? And Chase Pay? And Venmo? And Square Wallet? And Chirpify? And PayPal? And Zipmark? And Due? And Biyo? And? And? And?

Or are Apple’s grubby mitts in the digital wallet space somehow extra grubby?

To paraphrase Gunnery Sgt. Hartman; They are all equally worthless
 
But what is this N26 mobile bank thing? isn't this some workaround for countries that do not have apple pay? Is this official by apple and approved by portuguese banks/authorities/SIBS?

I think this looks sketchy...
 
I moved from London last year to the Netherlands and it’s madness that it’s taking so long to have this here. I was so used to using my Apple Watch for all contactless payments. Maybe we’ll be part of the next round.
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Is this really the reason? Madness.

My Bunq Apple Pay workaround works in every store in The Netherlands though... But pathetic that AP still isn't officially available over here!
 
I am using boon., it's been great UX. I am from Europe, but not from EU. Apple Pay will come to this country maybe in 2030.
 
I don’t understand — it says Apple Pay coming to GREECE but Greece already has Apple Pay. I’ve used an Apple Watch to pay for stuff last Summer. Did they have it and then lose it? I don’t understand. What am I missing here?
 
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I am using boon., it's been great UX. I am from Europe, but not from EU. Apple Pay will come to this country maybe in 2030.

I was using Boon. too, but since last Monday I get error, when using slovak cards to top up. Their support said that my top up was disabled due to security issues, which is ******** and that they support only credit card issued from a country where boon. is active...
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I don’t understand — it says Apple Pay coming to GREECE but Greece already has Apple Pay. I’ve used an Apple Watch to pay for stuff last Summer. Did they have it and then lose it? I don’t understand. What am I missing here?

Apple Pay is official in country, when local banks allow you to add their cards to the Wallet app and pay with them. It has nothing to do with the fact, that there are many POS terminals in Greece or any other country accepting NFC payments incl. Apple Pay. ;)
 
The Dutch banks don't want Apple Pay in Holland it's as simple as that.

Partly because their own infrastructure with wireless payments is working 'well-ish' and is free for them in terms of handling costs and the adaption is big (with Tikkie, iDeal, their own apps), so it's not like other countries where they need Apple Pay to spearhead the wireless payment culture, because that infrastructure is long here.

Basically we're ****ed because we're so cutting edge with internet services in Holland.

I don’t know if I truly believe in this. There are new banks on scene (eg Bunq), and you tell me that none of them want the advantage of supporting Apple Pay? Or is this not a single-bank only decision?
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You don’t think Apple wants it there? Likely something the Netherlands is doing to hold it up.

Not saying Apple doesn’t want it. Apple might as well be bad at striking such deals.
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Pretty sure the fault lies with the banks.
Maybe Apple cannot strike a good enough deal with them, too greedy, etc.
 
Is this really the reason? Madness.

it is and it isnt madness.

banks dont want to pay for apple for using apple pay when banks have built their own software etc already decades ago here. banks have great applications, payments etc here in europe. why would they want to pay apple something just to use apple pay?

where i live only one bank supports apple - none of the rest of largest banks have zero interest in apple pay.
 
Applepay. Just another way for apple to get their grubby mitts into your wallet.

Paying for stuff the other way was just SOOOO hard. Thank god apple has come along to make our first world lives ever so slightly easier.

Enjoy your ID theft and fraud.
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Yes lets email Tim to ask why it isn’t available in the Netherlands. It’s weird. All our neighbours have it.

Ask your bank.
 
But what is this N26 mobile bank thing? isn't this some workaround for countries that do not have apple pay? Is this official by apple and approved by portuguese banks/authorities/SIBS?

I think this looks sketchy...
N26 is a German online/mobile bank with a full bank license etc. Mobile/online just means that they don't have brick and mortar locations and they don't have any ATMs. They are "live" in several European countries including the UK and will come to the US this year.
https://n26.com/
 
But what is this N26 mobile bank thing? isn't this some workaround for countries that do not have apple pay? Is this official by apple and approved by portuguese banks/authorities/SIBS?

I think this looks sketchy...

Never heard of it. I doubt Millennium bcp for instance will support Apple Pay. They have a partnership with MB WAY. Don't know about other banks though. It looks sketchy to me as well.
 
I don’t get it. I’m using my phone to pay anywhere in Portugal that has contactless pay and excepts Visa. What am I missing?

That means exactly what is in the tweet and in the macrumors article. That Apple Pay is coming to banks that operate in Portugal.

Sure you can already use Apple Pay in Portugal if you have it set up with a bank of another country. Portuguese merchants are migrating to contactless payments so if you see a contactless terminal you basically can use Apple Pay.

The news is about banks that operate in Portugal supporting it. Currently none does.

I don’t understand — it says Apple Pay coming to GREECE but Greece already has Apple Pay. I’ve used an Apple Watch to pay for stuff last Summer. Did they have it and then lose it? I don’t understand. What am I missing here?

atmc's answer applies to your questions, too, Mac 128
 
You don’t think Apple wants it there? Likely something the Netherlands is doing to hold it up.

No, I don't think Apple really cares much. All the major Dutch banks would love to come on board. One bank (Bunq) even tried to introduce Apple Pay themselves but Apple shut that down quickly. Heck, ING is a Dutch bank and they are supporting Apple Pay in other countries.

IMO, it really is Apple that's not interested.

The Dutch banks don't want Apple Pay in Holland it's as simple as that.

No, it's not as simple as that. The Dutch banks would all love to support Apple Pay. Apple is just not interested.
 
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