Frankly, I'm waiting for Apple Pay to be available in Nigeria to enable transferring funds from wealthy Nigerian Princes faster and more easily.
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Apple Pay Launches in Belgium and Kazakhstan
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It’s The same in the Dutch apple stores. But the devices have NFC build in, they just haven’t activated it. One of the geniuses told me it was just a software update away.
And I have a Dutch Bunq Bank Apple Pay account so I can pay almost everywhere with my Apple Watch. Well, in the Netherlands anyway, in Germany 8 out of 10 payments can’t be done without cash...
In Berlin nfc payments are possible, but when your not in a big city there is so much use of cash.
In the Netherlands 61% of all payments is with plastic and 51% of all plastic payments is done with nfc.
I Germany is over 80% of all payments with cash and in small towns and villages that is even higher.
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That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Apple could add support for their own payment method in a heartbeat... obviously there's other deals falling through causing this to get delayed.
You realize this is an article about Apple Pay right? You think Apple would introduce Apple Pay without their own stores supporting it. As if
Same in Mexico. Apple store accepts no contactless payment. I guess Apple really doesn’t want anyone to use apple pay until they say so, because they likely know that with nfc enabled anyone traveling from the supported countries or with access to cards from those countries could use apple pay in their store in Mexico before they launch it in the country. It’s stupid but Apple likes that kind of excessive control over everything. Premium apple resellers in the country such as iShop or Macstore, on the other hand, do have some wireless terminals that can accept contactless payment, but they have them as a backup only and normally process cards using ingenico ipp 320 pinpads connected to their cash registers that have the nfc disabled. I’ve asked them more than once to use the wireless POS instead of the pinpad and they refused every time (and they aren’t even polite about it). And some youtube videos show that they have also refused to accept Samsung Pay at those stores, which is already officially available in Mexico and should work even on the pinpads.
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It’s Apple’s attitude that bothers. That they purposely don’t enable nfc on their card readers because they want to have absolute control over who uses apple pay and who doesn’t. It’s stupid. Especially in countries where most of the other merchants already have contactless payment.
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They will enable it at their stores on the day when they launch apple pay. They just don’t want anyone sneaking it in at their stores ahead of time. Apple’s typical absolute control attitude. They just don’t want apple pay to be used at their stores until they say so. It is stupid but we cannot do anything about it.
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No I’m sure they already have the nfc readers, which is all they need. They just won’t turn them on until the day of the official launch to make sure no one sneaks in and uses apple pay before that (anyone with a supported card from another country could if they enabled nfc). They like that stupid kind of control.
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At the apple stores the restriction is from apple too, they always keep the nfc turned off at all their stores in countries where they haven’t launched apple pay. Even in countries where contactless payment is widespread, Apple will NOT allow any contactless payment to be accepted at apple stores if apple pay is not available in those countries yet.
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And the average Ukrainian like myself, though I am in a high paying IT job doesn't get more than 200 dollars a month.
[doublepost=1543478823][/doublepost]Why is The Netherlands trailing?
As expected, Apple Pay launched in Belgium today, allowing bank card users in the country to take advantage of the contactless mobile payment system if their card issuer supports it.
In this case, the region's Apple Pay launch has taken the form of an exclusive partnership with BNP Paribas Fortis and its subsidiary brands Fintro and Hello Bank.
It's possible that other banks in Belgium will support Apple's digital wallet further down the line, but currently we don't have any specific details regarding future rollouts. Apple Pay can be used on iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch, as well as Mac models with Touch ID and Macs released in 2012 or later in combination with an iPhone or Apple Watch.
Also today, Apple Pay launched in Kazakhstan. The rollout there comes to Eurasian Bank, Halyk Bank, ForteBank, Sberbank, Bank CenterCredit, and ATFBank cardholders, with Mastercard and Visa variously supported. Around 65 percent of card terminals in the country already support contactless payments, according to Forbes, with banks actively expanding the terminal network with NFC technology.
Belgium and Kazakhstan become the 30th and 31st region where Apple Pay is officially available. Apple Pay is also set to launch in Germany this year and is "coming soon" to Saudi Arabia, according to Apple.com.
Apple Pay first launched in the United States in October 2014 and has since expanded to many other countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, China, Singapore, Switzerland, France, Japan, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Russia, New Zealand, Brazil, Poland, Ireland, and Ukraine.
(Thanks, Henry and Dmitry!)
Article Link: Apple Pay Launches in Belgium and Kazakhstan
Yeah, when news is talking about Apple Pay coming to a specific country, it’s all about regional bank allowing customers to add their account to Apple Wallet to use it for payments.
Acceptance in local stores is nearly independent from that...
Pretty much. I’ve been using apple pay in Mexico on a daily basis since 2016. Of course, it is set up with a USA card. When at least one mexican bank allows its customers to add their cards to apple pay they’ll say it’s just arriving to the country, but in fact many merchants here have been able to accept it for at least two years.
Me too is waiting for Apple Pay to launch in Thailand. I don't like QR payment that is widely used at the moment.
Such a shame that this thing is STILL not available in Portugal, whereas Samsung Pay is already being brandied about.
I mean, we practically invented RF toll payment, we had contactless cards in Lisbon Metro way before the Oyster card was even a thing and we have arguably the most advanced and versatile ATM network in the world, Multibanco (it’s a very popular local oddity not unlike the Minitel; besides the obvious banking functions, you can also pay taxes and bills, buy train tickets and recharge said contactless transport cards, and even withdraw money with a smartphone app).
I’m guessing it’s probably down to the banks and SIBS, the unusually advanced (for a monopoly, that is) purveyor of said system, to accept they’ve finally been outdone by Apple, and cave in to whatever demands they make. Still, considering how we already have contactless terminals (which, I’m guessing, should already be physically compatible with NFC-enabled phones and wearables) and cards, this is a damn shame.
I mean, we practically invented RF toll payment, we had contactless cards in Lisbon Metro way before the Oyster card was even a thing and we have arguably the most advanced and versatile ATM network in the world, Multibanco (it’s a very popular local oddity not unlike the Minitel; besides the obvious banking functions, you can also pay taxes and bills, buy train tickets and recharge said contactless transport cards, and even withdraw money with a smartphone app).
I’m guessing it’s probably down to the banks and SIBS, the unusually advanced (for a monopoly, that is) purveyor of said system, to accept they’ve finally been outdone by Apple, and cave in to whatever demands they make. Still, considering how we already have contactless terminals (which, I’m guessing, should already be physically compatible with NFC-enabled phones and wearables) and cards, this is a damn shame.
You are correct, the existing contactless terminals are already compatible with NFC enabled phones. I have read at least one comment about someone successfully using Apple Pay in Portugal once it was setup with a non-portuguese supported card. It is indeed down to the banks, who don't easily come to an agreement with Apple. Here in Mexico, for example, Samsung Pay arrived last year and Fitbit Pay and Garmin Pay arrived this week, while there is still no news from Apple or Google's mobile payment systems arriving in the country.
Maybe they charge the banks a lower fee. No one has actually proved it yet, but the late arrival of apple pay to several countries is constantly blamed on Apple charging the banks the highest rates in the mobile wallet market for letting their customers add their cards apple pay and banks not liking this. And that’s because although apple pay is available in more countries than other digital wallets, in many of those countries one or more of the others have arrived first.
I do not think Apple's fees for Apple Pay are the real problem. It's about data. The banks and many other parties want the data of all the purchases people make, but Apple keeps them almost exclusively for itself. The data is much more valuable than any rate could cost. That's why banks and other parties are not particularly interested in Apple Pay.
Then why are they interested in the other mobile wallets? all of them prevent the banks and merchants from getting the data of the purchases made by people.
Do you know that for a fact? I think Google is very willing to sell any data... for a price.
And just so we're clear, I'm not talking about personal date, which is illegal to sell. I'm talking about demographic data.
I do know for a fact that other mobile wallets such as Samsung Pay or Google Pay are already available in some countries where Apple Pay isn't yet and have arrived to some other countries long before Apple Pay did. Examples of this are Mexico, India and Turkey, where Samsung Pay is already available but Apple Pay isn't. Or Spain, where Google Pay and Samsung Pay arrived long before Apple Pay did. Why do you think the banks in those countries were interested in bringing those other mobile wallets to their countries but not Apple Pay or brought the other mobile wallets first and waited longer to bring Apple Pay?
I answered this question in my first posting. It's all about data. Google Pay, Samsung Pay all share data with the local banks and therefore are more welcome then Apple Pay. If not actively shared then at least the more open architecture of Android allows the banks to get more data then in the case of iOS.
Remember, this is Tim Cook's Apple. I think banks are paying Apple to get Apple Pay, and that German bank negotiated exclusive contract for himself.