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

[TrulsZK]

I have tested Tapping with Vipps in store and I am sticking to Apple Pay. Also now DNB and Sparebank1 should be forced to support Apple Pay, as to truly give the consumer a choice of which digital wallet to use, something which probably we won't see happening.

 

[9081094]

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.

Apple didn’t have to open their Apple Pay technology to others. Only the API’s using their NFC chip (which is non Apple tech).

I’m happy with Apple Pay but I’ll be even more happier when my bank can give me the same solutions Apple Pay can and even more because Apple Pay can’t do the things my bank app can.

Tear down that walled garden of Apple and the consumers will benefit. It also pushes Apple to innovate harder. Innovation at Apple is at a standstill under Timmy.

 

[TrulsZK]

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.

Totally agree, and I switched bank since DNB and Sparebank1 have never and still don't support Apple Pay and just complained that Apple need to open the NFC chip to create this Tapping feature in Vipps.

 

[RigSatMe]

Trusting payment to Vipps? - PASS!

 

[vgmrm]

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.

You do not seem to understand Europe's reason for introducing this legislation. Europe never intended to favor its own companies, only free competition. It is the companies, wherever they are from, that with this legislation can choose to compete freely, which they cannot do outside of Europe because of Apple's restrictive interpretation of this legislation.

 

[lowendlinux]

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.

It's still in the EEA

 

[surferfb]

Tear down that walled garden of Apple and the consumers will benefit. It also pushes Apple to innovate harder. Innovation at Apple is at a standstill under Timmy.

Yeah, none of that is true.

You do not seem to understand Europe's reason for introducing this legislation. Europe never intended to favor its own companies, only free competition. It is the companies, wherever they are from, that with this legislation can choose to compete freely, which they cannot do outside of Europe because of Apple's restrictive interpretation of this legislation.

I know that's what the EU says, but actions speak louder than words.

 

[raghu8912]

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?

if you know Apple is not offering a service you want then don't buy Apple products.
Every country has different regulations Apple has to follow.
if banks are not willing to work with Apple to make their cards with Apple Pay then it is the bank, you need to talk too your bank about this, not Apple.

 

[raghu8912]

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.

So we want Google and Apple to invest money in R&D to innovate so that all other companies can make money off of that innovation ?

 

[raghu8912]

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…

this is not about benefit to consumers, this is about how European companies steal revenue from US companies.
EU convinced people that competition is good for consumers and people fell for it.

 

[russell_314]

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

I bet this is not the reality. It’s likely going to be the bank who decides what tap to pay service you will use. Of course they don’t want to use the Apple version because they can’t track customer spending as well.

I could be wrong but only time will tell

 

[strongy]

Apple is as bad as the banks and they have as much money as the banks. Apple even has a savings account now. They are only interested in your money.
Apple has proven with a lot of products and their pricing that they don’t care. Money is the only thing. Also the reason why they are the richest company in the world.

Apple Card and Savings account are owned and managed by Goldman Sachs Bank USA get your facts straight lol

 

[raghu8912]

People here seem to have very little trust towards competition and a free market. "B-but what if the competitors are now allowed to compete freely?? They'll just offer products and then customers can decide what they prefer! What then??"

competition is good.
Apple & google innovate, invest in R&D to come up with new technology and all other companies want to piggy back on that and make money.
if EU wants improve competition then some one in EU should start making their own smart phone.
but here is my question
should Amazon allow me to sell my goods on their website for free ? i can pass on that 30% cut to consumers ?

 

[raghu8912]

Ask them! It's the freedom to choose thay many people like! Maybe they have benefit you don't see, but this doesn't mean they should not be able to get it.

they do have freedom to choose, just choose a phone that has the options you want.

 

[raghu8912]

Digital payments are expensive for merchants. Especially for very small merchants. Google pay doesn’t ask for any money. Why should Apple get a cut? At least allow fair competition, then the customer can chose. Price decrease for customers when there is a free market. Many examples for this.

Show me how customers are benefiting by using this ?
some other business is making money, consumers are not benefiting.
why not use cash you don't need to pay Visa, Master, Apple anyone.
this should benefit consumers ? probably not, you don't get any discount by using cash because businesses save the commission that they pay to Visa, Master, Apple.

 

[M66Call]

if you know Apple is not offering a service you want then don't buy Apple products.
Every country has different regulations Apple has to follow.
if banks are not willing to work with Apple to make their cards with Apple Pay then it is the bank, you need to talk too your bank about this, not Apple.

I'm not just talking about the bank. Why doesn't Apple say when it starts selling new iPhones: This, this, this and this is not available in Europe. These features are only available in the US - that would be fair. Unfortunately, I haven't seen it anywhere. Isn't it false advertising if Apple doesn't say that? I would understand if Apple said - this won't be available in your country, so the price of the new iPhone will be so much and so much lower - that would be fair. It reminds me of a vile thief - your Apple

 

[david_romero_hernand]

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.
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

What is the advantage of using another payment method? Does it offer any extra benefits to using Apple Pay? This can lead to having a payment method for each banking institution where I have an account. And it eliminates the initial purpose of Apple Pay, which is to prevent institutions from profiling me for using my card when making purchases.

 

[quietstormSD]

I don’t understand why people would even choose this. If I have a Visa, American Express, Mastercard, Discover credit card, why would want to another app other than Apple Pay for this? The banks and credit card companies still own the cards. Truly confused.

 

[surferfb]

If someone made a competing phone. The US government would ban it for national security reasons. That's already been done (Huawei)

Huawei wasn't banned because they made a competing phone, they were banned because their founder has extremely close ties with the People's Liberation Army and Chinese Intelligence, they were stealing IP, and using backdoors in their networking equipment. Even Sweden banned them from having anything to do with their 5G infrastructure.

If an EU company made a compelling phone the US wouldn't do a thing to prevent it from being sold over here.

 

[MilaM]

Apple Pay is more than simply linking your credit card to your iPhone and using it to pay for purchases.

That's not really true. Apple used an idea (and spec) that was developed by Visa and Mastercard and implemented it on their platform. This is why most Androids also essentially support their own variant of payment service with credit cards. Strictly speaking, tokenized payment cards would even work without the Secure Enclave.

The only proprietary part is how the payment cards are provisioned on iPhones. This is the part banks have to implement to support Apple Pay BTW. It's also the most error-prone and at times frustrating part of the experience. Though I'm not certain who is to blame for that.

 

[subjonas]

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

But it’s very possible mass or even most banks will drop Apple Pay, which will then mean you’ll end up with less choice of banks that you prefer. Some here argue this is giving consumers choice, but no, it’s really giving banks choice.

 

[OGdrknight]

The EU will later sue Apple as soon as one these Alternative pay options has a breach.

 

[MilaM]

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.

I don't think you understand the relationship between EU and Norway. There is a very comprehensive free trade agreement in place. As a result of this agreement most EU laws automatically apply in Norway as well.

My guess is, that this is the reason why a Norwegian company was able to release this service on iPhones so early. I'm sure others in the EU will follow.

 

[surferfb]

What you describe can be done by any phone. American businessmen do the same. They go to dinner with Trump (Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos) Why? They don't like competition, but they like money. Why was the U-2 made? Because of the weather? What did the Americans themselves do to their people MK ULTRA. They are all the same

We're just going to have to agree to disagree here - this thread isn't in the Politics sub-forum.

 

[MilaM]

Exactly. I’m astonished in seeing people here trusting banks about client satisfaction.
Before Apple Pay NFC payments were a joke.

Not sure what you are talking about. NFC payments were established in Europe well before Apple Pay entered the scene. I have been using it extensively years before my bank even supported Apple Pay. Even today NFC payments with card are much more common than payments with smartphones.