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Apple Pay Said to Launch in Switzerland on June 13

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Apple Pay will expand to Switzerland on Monday, June 13, marking the seventh country where the mobile payments service is available, according to German-language financial website Finews (via iPhone-Ticker).

Swiss private bank Cornèr Bank will purportedly be one of the first participating issuers in Switzerland, but the report did not specify if the country's two "big banks" UBS and Credit Suisse will also support Apple Pay upon launch.

Apple Pay's arrival in Switzerland has been expected since Apple filed a trademark for the service with the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property in February. The U.K. is currently the only other European country with Apple Pay.

Apple is "working rapidly" to expand the service to additional regions, including Hong Kong and Spain, and possibly France, Brazil, and Japan, in partnership with American Express, MasterCard, Visa, and other payment processors. Apple Pay has also expanded to ANZ in Australia, five large banks in Singapore, and Canada's big five banks BMO, CIBC, RBC, Scotiabank, and TD Canada Trust.

(Thanks, Nicolas!)

Article Link: Apple Pay Said to Launch in Switzerland on June 13
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2016/06/07/apple-pay-switzerland-june-13/
I'm so excited if this is true. There's currently a pointless "alliance against Apple" forming which aims to provide other means of contactless payment (through NFC, therefore excluding iPhones or QR codes) with all preexisting NFC cards on the side.
 
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I'm looking forward to the day when Apple Pay and Touch ID gets integrated into Safari and websites, instead of running through the maze of clunky PayPal login every time. PayPal knows Apple has them in their crosshairs and their days are numbered (except on eBay). That's why PP is scrambling with their new always logged in (security nightmare) "feature".
 
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Dephibio said:
You might wanna check this link. ;)
Click to expand...
You wanna check this link.

I know there are WAYS. But those WAYS make it far more complicated (and dumb) than just using normal bank-proposed contactless methods.

We've got like thousands of ways of paying with your phone in Poland:
http://inteligo.pl/aplikacja-iko/platnosci-zblizeniowe-telefonem/

And with Android you could have paid with your phone for at least 2-3 years.

Banks and mobile carriers worked it out with special SIM cards for NFC capable Android devices.
 
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tmiw said:
Do people use it much?
Click to expand...
I suspect it's the same as in Poland.

Contactless payments are... how to call it... normal. They were introduced a long time ago, banks can issue you even a sticker with NFC that you can use for paying.

karta_mastercard_sticker.jpg


Banks with mobile carries have even work it through to be independent of your phone/system and you can have a special SIM card with NFC. Only US stands in place with technology.

0011.002.png


And it's not about introducing, but about widespread usage and acceptance.
 
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tmiw said:
How prevalent is contactless there, out of curiosity?
Click to expand...

Where it works:
- The two biggest supermarket chains, Coop & Migros and their multitude of goods and restaurant subsidiaries;
- Chevron (branded as Coop Pronto) gas stations (not at the pump though);
- Aldi (discount grocery);
- SPAR (big grocery chain in Austria);
- Jumbo (a big hardware and garden store);
- IKEA and IKEA restaurant;
- McDonalds;
- Kiosk (convenience store oft found at train stations);
- local specialty liquor and gourmet shop;
- local bike and Vespa shop;
- various local larger restaurants;
- my local barber, now semi-retired from a 10-chair hi-volume mall based shop to a little 2-chair shop in his home;
- some car dealers;
- seems almost anybody on the Sixt payment network;

Far as I know, still no-go;
- almost no gas stations (although some have NFC terminals, they don't appear to be active - BP, this is you!)
- Manor / Manora (big dept store and restaurant chain);
- Lidl (discount grocery);
- Otto's (odd lot grocery/dept store);
- busses or rail;
- medium and small individual restaurants;
- Subway (restaurants);
- Post Office
- government entities (DMV);
- phone, cable, electric companies;
- ski lifts (not sure about this due to not skiing last 2 years due to bad knee);

There are some home-grown solutions being pushed by the Post Office Bank and other entities that consist of CurrentC-like scanning of QR codes or contactless scanning of something (Twint), that I see but never looked into because these I see as solutions without a great future (obsolete tech like QR approach, or too little scale like Twint) given the rise of NFC based solutions like Apple Pay.

TL;DR? Summary:
- (My credit cards are US-based chip+sign version. If you have cards from a not-yet rolled-out Apple Pay nation, they won't work);
- (my iTunes account is US-based, but my region setting is for Switzerland. To enable my cards, on both IPhone and Watch, I switched region to USA, enabled cards, then switched back to Swiss region w/o disrupting Apple Pay functionality);
- Since Dec 2014, I've been using Apple Pay almost everywhere I shop;
- since last June, these transactions have been exclusively via my Apple Watch;
- both work faster than a chip+pin or a chip+sign card;
- I see more and more shops upgrading to NFC POS terminals;
- there are competing systems from Post Bank (IIRC Twint), UBS Bank (don't know name), Swisscom (has/had? something) and MC Pay-Pass (IIRC RF-chip stickers). (In order to survive, I expect some of these entities will exhibit their own "protectionist" approach as ApplePay et Alia forces consolidation among these national/regional offerings);
- 2-weeks ago I met one of the leading software integrators for POS software and had a long discussion about this tech. I was surprised when he said he thought Apple's reserving TouchID for Apple Pay was "protectionist" and had the impression he didn't fully understand the Apple Pay approach (I'm curious as to how he will view this announcement);
- Coop did a cool thing for their Supercard members: go to the online site and in your profile state that you don't want printed receipt and you will get a pdf receipt by mail.

Final comments:
- I'm essentially to the point where I don't really have to carry credit/Maestro cards anymore;
- I don't think merchants have yet embraced such payment as equivalent to chip+pin as above ca. 50 CHF I still have to sign the receipt.
- I'm gonna miss the look of surprise and amazement from some cashiers caused by my being the only person in my end of the country paying for stuff with my Apple Watch.
[doublepost=1465317537][/doublepost]
now i see it said:
I'm looking forward to the day when Apple Pay and Touch ID gets integrated into Safari and websites, instead of running through the maze of clunky PayPal login every time. PayPal knows Apple has them in their crosshairs and their days are numbered (except on eBay). That's why PP is scrambling with their new always logged in (security nightmare) "feature".
Click to expand...
Also looking forward to PP being slain by Apple Pay. That and Apple Pay adding a P2P payment function.
 
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Should apple be "working rapidly" to expand Apple Pay, or be focused on improving it in the countries it's succeeding in currently?
 
I
krazifour said:
Should apple be "working rapidly" to expand Apple Pay, or be focused on improving it in the countries it's succeeding in currently?
Click to expand...
In the current released countries, Apple's biggest activity seems limited to getting more financial institutions to sign up to ApplePay.

In places like the USA, the inept, torturous, frustrated (by CurrentC) roll-out of chip+sign and the related POS terminal upgrades (which include NFC capability) has hindered ubiquitous POS acceptance of ApplePay, but the problems and solutions lie with the card networks and the merchants to work out.

It will eventually get resolved.
[doublepost=1465318607][/doublepost]
IGI2 said:
I suspect it's the same as in Poland.

Contactless payments are... how to call it... normal. They were introduced a long time ago, banks can issue you even a sticker with NFC that you can use for paying.

karta_mastercard_sticker.jpg


Banks with mobile carries have even work it through to be independent of your phone/system and you can have a special SIM card with NFC. Only US stands in place with technology.

0011.002.png


And it's not about introducing, but about widespread usage and acceptance.
Click to expand...
Is it really NFC or is it an RF chip? Is there a functional difference between NFC and RF? (This second question asked in a Matthew McConaughey like voice.)
 
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Robert.Walter said:
I

In the current released countries, Apple's biggest activity seems limited to getting more financial institutions to sign up to ApplePay.

In places like the USA, the inept, torturous, frustrated (by CurrentC) roll-out of chip+sign and the related POS terminal upgrades (which include NFC capability) has hindered ubiquitous POS acceptance of ApplePay, but the problems and solutions lie with the card networks and the merchants to work out.

It will eventually get resolved.
Click to expand...

Eh, I actually wouldn't be surprised if a lot of small businesses eventually revert back to cash only. They're already only taking cards because they feel like they "have to", so getting hit with a bunch of chargebacks might be the catalyst to abandon cards completely.
 
Apple has a huge market share in the smartphone market in Switzerland. In 2014 Apple's iPhone had 56% market share in Switzerland whereas Android had 39% market share. Windows Phone had 4% market share.

At the moment iPhone's market share in Switzerland is decreasing and Android Phones (mostly Samsung) are on the rise.

That being said ApplePay will be a welcome addition for many iPhone users and bring competition to the Contactless Payment market. There are other contactless payment apps from different competitors: Twint from PostFinance and Paymit from UBS/SIX, who are forming an alliance against ApplePay now. Later this year there will be just Twint.

Personally I like Twint the most because you don't have to have/use a credit card. You can purchase a voucher from a store, transfer money from your E-Banking account or directly link your E-Banking account to your Twint account. On top of that you can easily send and request money from friends by using their mobile phone number.
 
tmiw said:
Eh, I actually wouldn't be surprised if a lot of small businesses eventually revert back to cash only. They're already only taking cards because they feel like they "have to", so getting hit with a bunch of chargebacks might be the catalyst to abandon cards completely.
Click to expand...

What chargebacks?

Apple's fee is paid by the card issuers. There is no additional charge to merchants for allowing Apple Pay.

The costs of card fees are already in the prices. And there is downward pressure on card fees due to competition and regulation.

As I see it, the fees to merchants have been dropping over time and will continue to do so especially as debit cards are used over systems like Apple Pay.
 
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Robert.Walter said:
What chargebacks?

Apple's fee is paid by the card issuers. There is no additional charge to merchants for allowing Apple Pay.

The costs of card fees are already in the prices. And there is downward pressure on card fees due to competition and regulation.

As I see it, the fees to merchants have been dropping over time and will continue to do so especially as debit cards are used over systems like Apple Pay.
Click to expand...

I was talking about the liability shift due to the adoption of chip cards. Apple Pay doesn't seem to be the catalyst for smaller businesses to upgrade their terminals, which leaves the chargeback risk of swiping cards. And if they're already charging extra/imposing minimums to "discourage" card use, it's not much of a stretch for them to just not bother with cards altogether if they get an unexpected surprise from their merchant provider.
 
Swiss people usually do not use credit cards but rather more pay in cash or use a debit card which links directly to a bank account. Direct linking was the big advantage of PayMit, the payment solution of SIX, the Swiss stock exchange operator and transaction terminal provider. PayMit is merging now with Twint which uses Prepaid cards you can control via online banking and is driven by the bank PostFinance. All bills in Switzerland basically link to a Postfinance account. Twint already is widely supported in grocery stores which are visited by almost two third of the population. The service can by used with any cell phone. It even allows money transactions between people and is available as a standard for all banks which again will be approved by the Swiss government. It was planned as the standard payment solution for Switzerland.

The merge of the functionality of PayMit and Twint will happen in fall 2016. It was announced only one or two weeks ago.

This is a desperate move by Apple.
 
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Contactless payments are pretty common in Europe. So this is not really news other than the fact that local banks are not processing contactless payments through Apple Pay versus any of the alternatives available. Actually if you had a card activated from a bank anywhere in the world that allowed Apple Pay it would have worked in switzerland even before this announcement. From a consumer perspective we have two issues -- 1. getting MY bank to process Apple Pay. 2. Getting the places where I shop to install and activate NFC devices. It seems to me that in the US, #2 is the greater issue. In Europe, it's #1.
 
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