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Apple Pay Apple Pay in Germany
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Well it is possible, since the banking sector is almost the same as Russian. We will see
Wieder so ein Möchtegern der meint eine Quelle zu sein aber nix belegen kann. Im russischen Sprachraum kann ich nix darüber finden.
I am also guilty of criticising Germany in many points regarding slow development with technologies (and disastrous pace with large building projects 
). I do feel like other countries do a much better job and are more open to new developments. But that's also just down to different cultures.
Yet I do need to honestly defend the banks and merchants in Germany: Yes, contactless payments were unheard of for the masses before 2016/2017. But since then the expansion of NFC terminals on the one hand and the distribution of NFC credit/debit cards on the other has really exploded! Just today I was astounded that APCOA had upgraded their ticket machines for the parking at Stuttgart Airport. Yes, I paid via Apple Pay! I frequently travel through the airport and I'm certain that just a couple of weeks ago contactless payment wasn't an option. This evening at a small little Italian restaurant I asked if it were possible to pay by "EC card" (as Girocard just confuses people). I keep forgetting to bring cash along and was panicking... They happily brought over their mobile payment terminal. It was one of those new Ingenico terminals which also do NFC payment. I thought to myself "let's try and see if Apple Pay works". And? It did! Even with a MasterCard! The waitress was astonished but also said they had only recently got hold of that payment terminal. I'm sure the regulation on transaction fees will help with rapid expansion of credit card acceptance as well. And the benefit for Germany is: As many places don't accept cards or only the old EC Karte, upgrades on terminals will mean that they will just accept Girocard/credit cards and NFC as standard.
A last word on that: It's not always beneficial to be one of the first movers with new tech (see Apple: they're the same). Let other countries, people try out the new, geeky stuff. It'll get perfected, the business case will get optimised, things'll get ironed out. Then move and you'll be in a much better position. Maybe getting Apple Pay later in Germany might have it's benefits. Apple has learnt from mistakes made in other countries, things they should've done before moving into a country. I just remembered the outcry in Canada when all they supported was American Express which basically no one uses. What people wanted was Interac (debit card) support, which they did later on. In Switzerland they moved to fast and the large banks continue to refuse to join Apple Pay. Australia was another example of misjudgement. They moved in, the big banks said no and Apple had hardly any leverage. Let's see: Maybe there is some good in all of this!
Now Sparkasse and Volksbank are really pushing for contactless and the expansion of card acceptance in shops and that's a good thing. And if I could name a bank with the exposure and might to get public attention for this in Germany, then it would have to be the Sparkasse (I've often thought their marketing guys/gals are really quite good compared to some other banks)!
Let's see what happens. I'm sticking by my guess with WWDC (or around June/July) to be the time to look out for an announcement of Apple Pay expansion in Europe, hopefully with Germany included, and an Apple Pay Cash expansion. All the little pieces of the puzzle for Apple Pay in Germany are slowly but surely coming together. The recent push by Sparkasse/Volksbank, the upcoming Wallet app, the announcement by the Deutsche Kreditwirtschaft for a big announcement on "girocard digital" a week after WWDC etc. just adds to the fact that if something is going to happen this year, around WWDC is that time.
Until then we can still use boon. to pay in Germany (for those who don't have foreign accounts), this thread to discuss our excitement about Apple Pay in general and iOS 11.3 is just around the corner. That will help us pass the time by playing around with its new features
). I do feel like other countries do a much better job and are more open to new developments. But that's also just down to different cultures.Yet I do need to honestly defend the banks and merchants in Germany: Yes, contactless payments were unheard of for the masses before 2016/2017. But since then the expansion of NFC terminals on the one hand and the distribution of NFC credit/debit cards on the other has really exploded! Just today I was astounded that APCOA had upgraded their ticket machines for the parking at Stuttgart Airport. Yes, I paid via Apple Pay! I frequently travel through the airport and I'm certain that just a couple of weeks ago contactless payment wasn't an option. This evening at a small little Italian restaurant I asked if it were possible to pay by "EC card" (as Girocard just confuses people). I keep forgetting to bring cash along and was panicking... They happily brought over their mobile payment terminal. It was one of those new Ingenico terminals which also do NFC payment. I thought to myself "let's try and see if Apple Pay works". And? It did! Even with a MasterCard! The waitress was astonished but also said they had only recently got hold of that payment terminal. I'm sure the regulation on transaction fees will help with rapid expansion of credit card acceptance as well. And the benefit for Germany is: As many places don't accept cards or only the old EC Karte, upgrades on terminals will mean that they will just accept Girocard/credit cards and NFC as standard.
A last word on that: It's not always beneficial to be one of the first movers with new tech (see Apple: they're the same). Let other countries, people try out the new, geeky stuff. It'll get perfected, the business case will get optimised, things'll get ironed out. Then move and you'll be in a much better position. Maybe getting Apple Pay later in Germany might have it's benefits. Apple has learnt from mistakes made in other countries, things they should've done before moving into a country. I just remembered the outcry in Canada when all they supported was American Express which basically no one uses. What people wanted was Interac (debit card) support, which they did later on. In Switzerland they moved to fast and the large banks continue to refuse to join Apple Pay. Australia was another example of misjudgement. They moved in, the big banks said no and Apple had hardly any leverage. Let's see: Maybe there is some good in all of this!
Now Sparkasse and Volksbank are really pushing for contactless and the expansion of card acceptance in shops and that's a good thing. And if I could name a bank with the exposure and might to get public attention for this in Germany, then it would have to be the Sparkasse (I've often thought their marketing guys/gals are really quite good compared to some other banks)!
Let's see what happens. I'm sticking by my guess with WWDC (or around June/July) to be the time to look out for an announcement of Apple Pay expansion in Europe, hopefully with Germany included, and an Apple Pay Cash expansion. All the little pieces of the puzzle for Apple Pay in Germany are slowly but surely coming together. The recent push by Sparkasse/Volksbank, the upcoming Wallet app, the announcement by the Deutsche Kreditwirtschaft for a big announcement on "girocard digital" a week after WWDC etc. just adds to the fact that if something is going to happen this year, around WWDC is that time.
Until then we can still use boon. to pay in Germany (for those who don't have foreign accounts), this thread to discuss our excitement about Apple Pay in general and iOS 11.3 is just around the corner. That will help us pass the time by playing around with its new features
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Well spoken.
If we are honest, Sparkassen and Volksbanken are nearly the only banks in Germany, that try to get the stores, shops, even the smaller ones, to card payment options. since the 90s. There is no Deutsche Bank, no UniCredit, no N26 guy that talks to the owner since years and make offers. The other banks rely on the local VR/Sparkassen and other service providers to do so.
Only a few weeks left until WWDC. We will survive that time.
First off: this is a coincidence that I hear this now and no, I don't have any contacts within Apple or know any bank executives. I don't have secret sources or background knowledge of what's going on.
You take this information as you want. I'm not making any guesses but I thought I would pass it on.
Someone I know who works for the Sparkasse told me that the internal communication regarding the NFC payment app for smartphones starting mid-2018 is, that it will be "vorerst ausschließlich für Android Smartphones". He did say that the Sparkasse of course wants to offer their customers who have Apple devices a similar service, as they were aware that (I didn't know this number!) 15-20% of customers of the German mobile network providers use an iPhone. Not expecting an answer I asked how they want to achieve that as Apple doesn't allow access to the NFC chip. I was told: "I don't know."
Now that's not a surprise, but I've come to learn that the German word "vorerst" means there is something to follow.
In the past the Sparkasse did publicly confirm they were interested in Apple Pay, so that might help with our speculation
You take this information as you want. I'm not making any guesses but I thought I would pass it on.
Someone I know who works for the Sparkasse told me that the internal communication regarding the NFC payment app for smartphones starting mid-2018 is, that it will be "vorerst ausschließlich für Android Smartphones". He did say that the Sparkasse of course wants to offer their customers who have Apple devices a similar service, as they were aware that (I didn't know this number!) 15-20% of customers of the German mobile network providers use an iPhone. Not expecting an answer I asked how they want to achieve that as Apple doesn't allow access to the NFC chip. I was told: "I don't know."
Now that's not a surprise, but I've come to learn that the German word "vorerst" means there is something to follow.
In the past the Sparkasse did publicly confirm they were interested in Apple Pay, so that might help with our speculation
Either way he would never in a million years know if Apple Pay is coming (to Germany / Sparkassen) or not. The non-disclosure agreements with Apple are really watertight and the circle of people who really know what's going on is tiny. A few IT people and some executives who negotiated the deals.
That's why this sort of communication helps, as they won't - as other banks have clearly done - just upfront deny interest in offering Apple customers something.
First off: this is a coincidence that I hear this now and no, I don't have any contacts within Apple or know any bank executives. I don't have secret sources or background knowledge of what's going on.
You take this information as you want. I'm not making any guesses but I thought I would pass it on.
Someone I know who works for the Sparkasse told me that the internal communication regarding the NFC payment app for smartphones starting mid-2018 is, that it will be "vorerst ausschließlich für Android Smartphones". He did say that the Sparkasse of course wants to offer their customers who have Apple devices a similar service, as they were aware that (I didn't know this number!) 15-20% of customers of the German mobile network providers use an iPhone. Not expecting an answer I asked how they want to achieve that as Apple doesn't allow access to the NFC chip. I was told: "I don't know."
Now that's not a surprise, but I've come to learn that the German word "vorerst" means there is something to follow.
In the past the Sparkasse did publicly confirm they were interested in Apple Pay, so that might help with our speculation
I'm guessing that if they leave the word "vorerst" out, it would piss their iPhone using clients off. Now they leave them hanging, because without mentioning a term "vorerst" could mean years basically. Or whenever. It's just blabla really.
You know guys if I were in your place I would just get Boon. It does the job and only costs 0.99 € per month. And to be honest ... Apple Pay did not change my world. More and more often I see myself paying with my contactless card since it simply is as convenient and most of the times even faster and more reliable then the whole Apple Pay thing. Many banks allow you to set your nfc limit yourself so you can chose when you need to enter your pin. Many times my iPhone won’t recognize my fingerprint then you need to enter the pin and the whole process feels very buggy to me. Sometimes o can scan my finger like three times before it gives me the option to enter the pin code. And then there is always the possibility that Apple Pay does not work. Even so 9 out of 10 stores already seem to support nfc at least where i live... every niemand again I run into the problem that Apple Pay does lot work. Two days ago I went to some Edeka ... a very big and new store that offers nfc as well and Apple did not work. I could use my nfc card to pay. So you still need to have a card or some cash as backup anyway. Considering that only about 50 % of merchants support Apple Pay in the US you can imagine how long it would take to support every place you go to shop in Germany. Apple Pay is a neat feature if it works but it didn’t change my banking experience nearly as much as N26 or especially bunq did. And you still could go down the Android way to pay contactless if you do not want to pay for boon.
No big deal. The "payment app" will be Android only forever. As long as Apple will deny access to the NFC chip
So or so... 15% iOS market share. No big impact if you won't support Apple Pay. No matter what Apple Fans in an Apple Fan Forum will think. That's reality
Let's see what's coming this year.
No big deal. The "payment app" will be Android only forever. As long as Apple will deny access to the NFC chip
Basically what I stated, but the technical implementation would require the Sparkasse app to support adding the card to wallet as the details on the Girocard aren't sufficient to add to the Wallet (my guess). According to the Sparkasse the payment function will be included in the Sparkasse and Sparkasse+ apps. Credit cards would of course be ok.
Android?
You have heard how Cambridge Analytica ****** Android Users. Not only! I know![doublepost=1522242660][/doublepost]
How many disadvantages? Google and Android= crap!
Android?
[doublepost=1522242660][/doublepost]
How many disadvantages? Google and Android= crap!
iOS is at least as much crap as android. Just in different ways. There is no perfect system. Android has stuff iOS doesn’t and vice versa. If you cannot agree on that then you are just a blind Apple fan boy. Just learn to appreciate both sides and stop that hating.
iOS is not perfect. If you care about security, then there are no alternatives. But we are OT.
[doublepost=1522245448][/doublepost]
Yes. Android stuff is cheaper and not everyone thinks before he or she buys stuff.
Yeah OT but there is not much to talk about Apple Pay anyway so ... iOS 11 is a mess. It’s by far the worst iOS I have ever used. Compare this to the latest android version (i am talking Stock of course) and it’s an experience on another Level. Yeah android might have a disadvantage if it comes to security but if you follow some rules it’s not a deal breaker. It’s like the whole pc vs Mac thing. Oh there are no viruses for Mac and it’s much safer then windows will ever be ... and yet I have never had a single virus on my pc. On windows 10 I don’t even run a anti virus just the defender which comes with it and I haven’t had any problems. Same goes from android. You people keep talking about those security breaches android might or might not have but then you go on Facebook a share every detail and aspect of your life. Information that social hackers can use and do much more harm against you than your Android device will ever do to you. And if you would be open minded you would know that Apple had some huge security breaches over the last couple of months. Being able to unlock your phone with a few workarounds and gaining access to all your data on your phone sounds very secure to me... like i said android and iOS have both pros and cons.
Yes! But Apple fixes things fast. Yes, I /we use Windows 10 too, but I trust Microsoft far less than Apple. You do not have to post every sh** on Facebook. If their is more negative stuff leaked I might cancel the whole Facebook stuff, including WhatsApp.
Now that's not a surprise, but I've come to learn that the German word "vorerst" means there is something to follow.
In the past the Sparkasse did publicly confirm they were interested in Apple Pay, so that might help with our speculation
There have been way clearer indicators in the past months from the PR departments.
The Sparkasse's standard response for example has been reworded. It clearly implies their willingness to adopt AP once launched in Germany if you understand the subcontext.
"Apple Pay sind wir offen gegenüber, allerdings liegt die Markteinführung in Deutschland in den Händen von Apple, und nicht bei uns."
https://twitter.com/sparkasse/status/959384632620969984
Most people (on Twitter) still do not seem to be able to read between the lines and continue to hate, but this is about as clear as they can get without breaching NDAs.
Mostly agree that this is no hint to Apple Pay but the Phone they used on the Sparkasse Payment Tag Flyer is in my opinion definitely an iPhone. You can slightly see the contours of Touch ID and the status bar is also from iOS with a photoshopped picture on the display
Attachments
What? Ok... This picture has a poor quality on my Full HD monitor. It could as well be a Pixel or nothing which is used in the real world.Mostly agree that this is no hint to Apple Pay but the Phone they used on the Sparkasse Payment Tag Flyer is in my opinion definitely an iPhone. You can slightly see the contours of Touch ID and the status bar is also from iOS with a photoshopped picture on the display