World's First Apple Pay Alternative for iPhone Launches in Norway

[MacRumors]

Norwegian payment service Vipps has become the world's first company to launch a competing tap-to-pay solution to Apple Pay on iPhone, following Apple's agreement with European regulators to open up its NFC technology to third parties.

Starting December 9, Vipps users in Norway can make contactless payments in stores using their iPhones. The service initially supports customers of SpareBank 1, DNB, and over 40 other Norwegian banks, representing approximately 70% of Norwegian bank customers.

"We have fought for years to be able to compete on equal footing with Apple, and it feels almost surreal to finally be able to launch our very own solution," said Rune Garborg, CEO of Vipps MobilePay, in a statement on the company's website.

The launch follows the European Commission's July 2024 acceptance of legally binding commitments from Apple to open its mobile payments system to competitors. Under the agreement, Apple must provide free access to iPhone NFC functionality for third-party mobile wallets and allow users to set alternative payment apps as their default option.

Vipps' solution currently works with terminals that accept BankAxept cards, Norway's national payment system, covering more than 90% of payment terminals in the country. The company plans to expand support for Visa and Mastercard cards in the coming months, enabling worldwide payment capabilities before summer 2025.

The service allows users to make payments by holding their iPhone near a payment terminal, with authentication via Face ID, Touch ID, or device passcode. iPhone users can set Vipps as their default payment app and activate it by double-clicking the Side button, just as they would if they were using Apple Wallet and Apple Pay.

Vipps MobilePay, which emerged from a merger of Vipps from Norway and MobilePay from Denmark, plans to extend the tap-to-pay solution to Denmark, Finland, and Sweden in 2025, potentially paving the way for similar implementations by other payment providers across Europe.

Article Link: World's First Apple Pay Alternative for iPhone Launches in Norway

 

[FrietVanPiet]

That’s great! It’s good to see some fair competition in this market! 😊😊

 

[thekeyring]

"We have fought for years to compete on an equal footing with Apple" ... Ah so this is launching on Vipps' flagship smartphone?

 

[Frizlab]

Please, no! I hope people will avoid this en masse, I would hate for my bank to stop providing Apple Pay on the pretense that some alternative I won’t trust is available. I hate the EU for forcing this.

 

[vantelimus]

After all the work the EC did to force Apple to open up its technology to alternate pay systems, it is hilarious that a non-EU company is the first to exploit the legislation. The EU can't even beat the competition when it tilts the playing field towards itself. That's gotta sting.

 

[Hinza]

Oh yes finally!
Competition is good! Hope more banks follow.

 

[AppleIsEveryWhere]

I live here in Norway, the Vipps is great inside the country, but if you travel outside of Norway? you have no option but to use Apple Pay or Google pay!

 

[EmanuelF]

Apple did all the work to put everything in place in the chaotic global banking system to create a reliable and secure way to pay so now the scammy disruptors CEOs can piggyback on it.

No thanks. I have an Android smart TV to remind me that I don't want that spammy, unreliable, nonsense, vulnerable crap on my Apple ecosystem.

 

[Jay-Jacob]

I just hope all banks stay with Apple Pay and not withdraw and switch over other 3rd party. For now it not in UK (as far I am aware) and hope stays that way long as possible!

Edit: just double checked and it is open worldwide. Not just EU. Hope banks here won’t get silly ideas moving away from Apple Pay.

 

[M66Call]

"We have fought for years to compete on an equal footing with Apple" ... Ah so this is launching on Vipps' flagship smartphone?

I hope this won't change anything for me. I pay via Apple Watch, but I have no problem with this. I hate Apple for not providing the same services around the world as in the US. And to your question, why do I buy Apple products? I would answer you: ask Apple - why does it sell its products around the world when it doesn't offer the same services as in the US. Imagine if half of it doesn't work for you in the US - will you be satisfied?

 

[vantelimus]

I just hope all banks stay with Apple Pay and not withdraw and switch over other 3rd party. For now it not in UK (as far I am aware) and hope stays that way long as possible!

If my banks drop Apple Pay, I'll stop using their credit cards. It's that simple. It's their choice.

 

[Ctrlos]

Apple did all the work to put everything in place in the chaotic global banking system to create a reliable and secure way to pay so now the scammy disruptors CEOs can piggyback on it.

No thanks. I have an Android smart TV to remind me that I don't want that spammy, unreliable, nonsense, vulnerable crap on my Apple ecosystem.

On the first point, 100% agree. There is a reason Apple Pay is the gold standard.

But don’t let a crummy Android TV sour your opinion of non-Apple devices. I’m not saying that you should go out and buy an Android phone but there are some great devices out there and you never know where you’ll be in the future

 

[JippaLippa]

As long as my bank will keep the apple pay functionality, I'm fine.
I know my bank provides an "in-house" NFC payment system, but so far they seem to have kept the Apple Pay functionality.


I can't remember the last time I actually paid by scanning the card on the terminal.

 

[twintin]

Oh yes finally!
Competition is good! Hope more banks follow.

Why ? What is the benefit for me as a consumer ? Why would I want to exchange Apple Pay with something else or even worse, being forced to use multiple solutions in the event each bank supports their own solutions and nothing else ?

 

[orbital~debris]

But what's in it for them, and what's the benefit to users?

Without the latter in particular being well-defined, it's difficult to see why people would choose to use this over a baked-in solution. I suppose if the alternative provider starts offering incentives to use their system, that could work to transition customers away from Pay…

 

[contacos]

not surprised. Vipes seems to be huge based on the experience with our Nordic market at work.

 

[BinkyApplrAmerican]

Why ? What is the benefit for me as a consumer ? Why would I want to exchange Apple Pay with something else or even worse, being forced to use multiple solutions in the event each bank supports their own solutions and nothing else ?

Exactly this. This move only hurts consumers, as if this EU witch-hunt was about that anyways. Get ready to install 3 different tap to pay apps because it’s cheaper and means less fees for the bank!

 

[ifxf]

I don’t need to verify when using a card, much faster.

 

[timber]

My country has pretty nice app that allows to pay stuff, send money, ask for money, divide bills, use ATMs and generate and manage virtual cards. It works with whatever card you may have.

The only difference between the Android and Apple version is that the Apple version only supports QR Codes for payment.

That will change soon.

 

[Hinza]

Why ? What is the benefit for me as a consumer ? Why would I want to exchange Apple Pay with something else or even worse, being forced to use multiple solutions in the event each bank supports their own solutions and nothing else ?

Why is everybody here pretending that Apple Pay is the only safe and good way of paying? And that no other company can do better then Apple.
If you prefer Apple Pay then keep using it. Nobody is forcing you too change. Just more options for consumers.
The fact is that Apple is charging a lot of money for Apple Pay to the banks, banks indirectly will charge customers for this one way or the other. My bank and many others here force you to have a paying account to use Apple Pay. If you have a free current account you cannot use Apple Pay.
Fair competition will just make sure Apple is putting enough effort into Apple Pay.
Since when is fair competition bad?

 

[vantelimus]

Exactly this. This move only hurts consumers, as if this EU witch-hunt was about that anyways. Get ready to install 3 different tap to pay apps because it’s cheaper and means less fees for the bank!

The main thing here is that unless the bank starts offering higher rebates, it won't be cheaper for the consumer. It will only reduce the bank's transaction costs at the expense of introducing yet another middle-man between them and the consumer.

I hope there is some fee Apple is allowed to charge for use of the technology because Apple will experience increased support costs as consumers complain to Apple when people have problems with unreliable service from third parties.

 

[d686546s]

"We have fought for years to compete on an equal footing with Apple" ... Ah so this is launching on Vipps' flagship smartphone?

It does absolutely not make sense that every service provider should have its own hardware ecosystem to be able to compete it in the market. Why would we even want that? The power of the smartphone is exactly that it's an all-purpose device, that's what made it great.

And turn this around, if carriers restricted their networks to their own devices and told Apple and Google and the others that they need to build their own networks for their phones, would that be okay?

It's a difficult balance to strike for sure, but expecting every service to build their competing platform where Apple or Google device they want to push their own solutions seems like a sure way to kill innovation.

 

[Warputin]

I live here in Norway, the Vipps is great inside the country, but if you travel outside of Norway? you have no option but to use Apple Pay or Google pay!

Or add a Visa / Mastercard to the wallet?

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

That went well:

 

[Cybbe]

As someone residing in Norway and using Vipps, I cant see myself changing from Apple Pay. At the moment Vipps' service is very limited, my bank (the second largest) isn't supported for instance, and while they will support credit cards issued by VISA and MasterCard at one point, there's really no incentive for changing over. And while I can't test as I cannot enable the service, this doesn't seem to apply to Apple Pay via Apple Watch, which renders it a non-starter for me personally.

After all the work the EC did to force Apple to open up its technology to alternate pay systems, it is hilarious that a non-EU company is the first to exploit the legislation. The EU can't even beat the competition when it tilts the playing field towards itself. That's gotta sting.

While not a member of the EU, Norway is a member of the EEA. The NFC agreement between the EC and Apple is based on general competition rules (art. 102 TFEU) and applies across the entirety of the EEA. The distinction between EU and non-EU isn't very relevant here.