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PayPal Launching Contactless iPhone Payments in Germany to Compete With Apple Pay

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Apr 12, 2001
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PayPal today announced that it is planning to debut contactless payments in Germany, allowing German iPhone users to make tap-to-pay purchases in stores using their PayPal accounts.

paypal-tap-to-pay-germany.jpg

PayPal is able to offer this feature because Europe's Digital Markets Act has forced Apple to open up the NFC chip in its devices to third-party apps. NFC payments are available in apps without the need for Apple Pay or the Wallet app, allowing third-party payment services and banks to offer their own tap-to-pay solutions on Apple devices.

European users are able to choose a default app that is activated when an iPhone is near an NFC terminal or when the side button on the device is double pressed, so paying in stores with PayPal is as seamless as paying with Apple Pay.

PayPal says it will launch its first contactless mobile wallet "in the coming weeks," and Germany will be its first test market. Using the latest version of the PayPal app on an iPhone, PayPal customers will be able make in-store purchases with PayPal wherever contactless Mastercard payments are accepted.

To lure customers to use PayPal over Apple Pay, PayPal is offering cashback offers in the PayPal app and will eventually support a pay over time feature with options for six, 12, and 24 monthly installments for purchases.

NFC access is available for banking and wallet apps in the European Economic Area, which includes the 27 European Union countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway.

Article Link: PayPal Launching Contactless iPhone Payments in Germany to Compete With Apple Pay
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/05/05/paypal-iphone-contactless-payments/
munpip214 said:
I’m guessing once this is all set up, PayPal cards will drop support for Apple Pay. For them, it will be fine, but if Apple tried to do that, it would be “anti-competitive” and they would get sued hundreds of millions of dollars.
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If that were true they’d be sued for excluding/restricting Siri and apple intelligence in Poland, yet here we are. Besides PayPal isn’t a monopoly.
 
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dontwalkhand said:
If there is any company I trust the least right now, it would be PayPal.
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Great. Don’t use their services then. Stick with Apple, or wait for a better option for you. Nothings changed except now there exists a choice. The fact you can now do this is much more the point, rather than be forced to only be able to use Apple.
 
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TechWhisperer said:
Great news! More choice and freedom for consumers in the European Union. In advance, those who downvote me clearly dislike freedom of choice. LOL.
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Anyone that uses Apple’s Wallet can use as many different payment options as they like, even from companies that compete against each other. Anyone that uses PayPal’s will be able to pay via PayPal… and that’s it. I guess technically providing a choice that gives less choice is ok with the EU. BUT, if providing a choice that gives less choice is ok, I mean, Apple literally is a choice that provides less choice :)
 
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Mrkevinfinnerty said:
Yeah nearly as big as Apple Pay. Not quite as big because Apple doesn't like competing.
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Paypal was founded in 1998. Apple Pay didn’t come along until 2014. What did PayPal do with such a HUGE lead to where they’re only ALMOST ans big as Apple? Even the PayPal Secure card came out in 2007! It’s not that Apple doesn’t like competing it’s that apparently no one else knows how to compete LOL
 
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DocMultimedia said:
PayPal is still around? I remember them from the antique days of the web. Not sure if I've used them since 2010 or so. But to each their own.
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PayPal is alive and well here in France, offering a convenient way of paying on many sites without entering our card details and allowing for interest-free 4 equal payments on purchases. Pretty good if you ask me.
 
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Unregistered 4U said:
Anyone that uses Apple’s Wallet can use as many different payment options as they like, even from companies that compete against each other. Anyone that uses PayPal’s will be able to pay via PayPal…
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I don’t see how PayPal offers less choice than Apple Wallet here. You can register any number of credit cards and bank accounts with PayPal, just as with Apple Wallet. PayPal is “only” an intermediary for those, similar to Apple Pay. PayPal lets you choose which payment method to use on every transaction, like Apple Pay does.

PayPal is pretty big in Europe, Apple Pay less so.
 
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Unregistered 4U said:
Paypal was founded in 1998. Apple Pay didn’t come along until 2014. What did PayPal do with such a HUGE lead to where they’re only ALMOST ans big as Apple? Even the PayPal Secure card came out in 2007! It’s not that Apple doesn’t like competing it’s that apparently no one else knows how to compete LOL
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Apple Pay overtook PayPal around 2021 after seven years of being the only service iPhone users could actually use for tap to pay, again, because Apple doesn't like to compete.

If Apple is the competitive juggernaut you claim, it's not clear how it took them seven years to claim third spot in global payments (they are still behind alipay and wechat) despite barring all third-party services from using tap to pay on the iPhone.

It will be interesting to see Apple Pay compete on a level playing field.
 
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Not that I pay using my phone that often and i use Android not an Iphone, but even so I don't see the point in using Paypal.
If you use Android pay or what ever, they call it now or Apple pay then the money comes directly out of your bank account or from your credit card. Is that going to happen with Paypal?

I know people say it is good to havce choice, but what does Apple get out of Apple Pay?
Using an Android phone I have the choice to use what ever payment system I like, I used to use a Curve card on my Fitbit watch, because at the time, my bank was not supported until Google took over Fitbit. But that was not instant, and I normally got on my bank account aldi via Curve or something like that.
The good thing about using somethingh liek Googel Pay and I presume Apple pay is that on your bankl statement, it just says the name of the company you have paid, just like using your debit/credit card.


Lately I have been using my chip and pin card more than my phone/watch and to be honest, i am thinking of going back to cash
 
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Ad47uk said:
Not that I pay using my phone that often and i use Android not an Iphone, but even so I don't see the point in using Paypal.
If you use Android pay or what ever, they call it now or Apple pay then the money comes directly out of your bank account or from your credit card. Is that going to happen with Paypal?
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Yeah, where else would it be coming from?
 
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