Apple Pay Now Available in Switzerland

[Robert.Walter]

NFC is not open to third parties on iOS devices. Even though optical and bluetooth-based solutions are terrible, banks are forced to use such technologies, and Apple is the only company to blame.

Personally, I don't care who wins this war. Maybe Apple will eventually be forced to open up NFC, or maybe Swiss banks will give in to customers and implement Apple Pay. In any case, however, it will take years and until then the situation is far from ideal. I just wanted to switch from Cornercard. Now I don't know what to do.

And why is Apple the absolute villain here? The same accusation could be leveled against the banking cartel here in Switzerland. Why should apple be forced to do anything? Why not the banking cartel be forced to sign up to Apple Pay?

I've been reviewing the available cards and the bonus card looks to be among the best that I've seen to this point.

 

[Manderby]

- Fiddly.
- Slow.
- National solution unlikely to be picked up outside CH.

Swiss people pay in cash or in debit cards. CC not so much. Biggest card reader provider is sixt and they provided an e-solution called paymit. Now, paymit is merged with Twint.

Twint was slow because they used their own nfc reader and protocol. Now with paymit on board, it will be quick as a Bisiwetter.
Twint was fiddly because they used prepaid accounts. Now when paymit on boeard, it will be connected to any account you like.
Twint will not be picked up outside CH for now. But as paymit was a standard for banks, other countries (like UK and Germany) might have a close look at how it performs.

 

[larrylaffer]

I was in Zurich last month and was able to Apply Pay at a number of locations that supported contactless payments, using my Bank of America Visa debit card. I was able to successfully do this in Germany, Italy, and Austria as well.

Why? Because it seems to me any place that accepts contactless Visa Debit will work with Apple Pay. Pretty nifty stuff.

 

[RedOrchestra]

I was in Zurich last month and was able to Apply Pay at a number of locations that supported contactless payments, using my Bank of America Visa debit card. I was able to successfully do this in Germany, Italy, and Austria as well.

I'm quite surprised that you were able to use your Visa Debit Card in Europe - I've been trying off and on for a couple of years with the physical card, and it was never accepted - CCs ONLY.

 

[dhruveonmars]

I'm quite surprised that you were able to use your Visa Debit Card in Europe - I've been trying off and on for a couple of years with the physical card, and it was never accepted - CCs ONLY.

I am from Europe and only use Visa Debit Card, I hardly ever use CC or cash except for a few small stores that require minimum purchases to use a card.
Fair enough, each country has different uses, and maybe the European countries you've been to don't take Visa Debit

 

[RedOrchestra]

I am from Europe and only use Visa Debit Card

I respect that ... I'm from Canada and it was continually denied BUT maybe things have changed - I was just in Berlin and tried it twice, and it was a No-Go.

For clarity, it was denied on purchases only - the Visa Debit Card works flawlessly for cash withdrawals.

 

[larrylaffer]

I'm quite surprised that you were able to use your Visa Debit Card in Europe - I've been trying off and on for a couple of years with the physical card, and it was never accepted - CCs ONLY.

Really? So far this year, I've been to Barcelona, Vienna, Zurich, Milan, and Munich, and restaurants and shops in all of those cities seem to accept Visa Debit pretty consistently.

 

[123]

And why is Apple the absolute villain here? The same accusation could be leveled against the banking cartel here in Switzerland. Why should apple be forced to do anything? Why not the banking cartel be forced to sign up to Apple Pay?

Because lack of collaboration and anti-competitive practices are two different things. Nobody should be forced to take part in (and pay for) the other's payment network. Banks not supporting Apple Pay is the same as Apple not becoming a TWINT partner.

On the other hand, preventing developers from using technology that is already in the phone is something entirely different. There are many use cases for NFC and the sole reason Apple doesn't allow to use it is to lock out Apple Pay competitors.
[doublepost=1467995331][/doublepost]

Swiss people pay in cash or in debit cards. CC not so much. Biggest card reader provider is sixt and they provided an e-solution called paymit. Now, paymit is merged with Twint.

Twint was slow because they used their own nfc reader and protocol. Now with paymit on board, it will be quick as a Bisiwetter.
Twint was fiddly because they used prepaid accounts. Now when paymit on boeard, it will be connected to any account you like.
Twint will not be picked up outside CH for now. But as paymit was a standard for banks, other countries (like UK and Germany) might have a close look at how it performs.

Umm, there are so many errors in your comment, I do not even know where to begin..

First of all, the payment service provider's name is SIX. Sixt is a car rental service. Secondly, it is not the case that Twint "was" slow, Twint IS slow. The merger between Twint and Paymit has yet to happen, especially technology-wise. Third, Twint does not use NFC, it is bluetooth-based. Fourth, Paymit does not have a POS solution that is better than Twint, and NFC is out of reach on iOS anyway: don't expect the new Twint to be any different or faster than the current solution. You are right about the prepaid dilemma. However, "it will be connected to any account you like" is wrong as the bank must sign up for Twint/Paymit. Paymit only worked because UBS has decided to pay credit card fees for people of other banks, but this is not a sustainable model.