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Posts tagged with "apple pay"

Apple Responds to Australian Banks’ Request to Collectively Boycott and Negotiate Over Apple Pay

Late last week Apple made a preliminary submission to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in relation to the request for permission from various Australian banks to boycott Apple Pay and collectively negotiate with Apple. Apple’s submission is comparatively brief at just three pages, but it clearly highlights the approach Apple will take in opposing the banks’ request.

In its submission, Apple is quick to highlight the collective dominance of the banks in Australia which account for 66% of credit card balances in Australia, whilst characterising itself as the “new entrant to the Australian market” having only launched Apple Pay in November 2015.

The other angle of attack from Apple is more surprising, and in the submission it appears quite clear that Apple is asserting that the closed nature of the NFC antenna in the iPhone is pivotal to maintaining the security of its users.

Now they ask the ACCC for explicit permission to negotiate with Apple as a collective group. The goal of which is to force Apple and other third party providers to accept their terms, allow them to charge consumers that choose to use Apple Pay, and force Apple to undermine the security of its mobile payment service by opening access to the NFC antenna, placing at risk the consumer experience of a simple, secure, and private way to make payments in store, within, applications, or on the web.

Apple notes that it will make a further, more comprehensive submission, at a later date. But a key purpose of this prelimary submission was to persuade the ACCC that the banks should not be given any interim approval, and that the ACCC should take the “normal 6 month statutory period for assessment”.

A few other interesting tidbits from Apple’s submission:

  • Apple’s discussions with Australian banks in relation to Apple Pay began in “late 2014”. Apple Pay launched in the US in October 2014.
  • One of the applicant banks “has refused to even enter into a confidentiality agreement with Apple to allow for preliminary discussions about the terms under which it would participate in Apple Pay”.
  • Apple argues that “interim authorisation of a collective boycott will have a lasting and irreversible impact on the adoption of Apple Pay and other third party wallets, and the Australian payment market”.
  • Apple suggests that Apple Pay is not a competitive threat to the banks; “Unfortunately, and based on their limited understanding of the offering, the applicants perceive Apple Pay as a competitive threat”.
  • Apple writes “These banks want to maintain complete control over their customers”, I would wager the banks would say the exact same thing about Apple.

(via AFR)

Australian Banks Ask Competition Regulator to Allow Collective Boycott of Apple Pay

In a rather extraordinary move, four of Australia’s largest banks have written to Australia’s competition regulator requesting permission to join together in a collective boycott whilst they negotiate with third-party mobile wallet services including Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay. The banks seeking permission include 3 of the ‘Big 4’ banks in Australia, being the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank, and Westpac Banking Corporation, but it also includes Bendigo and Adelaide Bank. Notably, the fourth bank in the ‘Big 4’ absent from this request is ANZ which reached an agreement with Apple earlier this year to launch Apple Pay for its customers.

In a lengthy, 121-page submission, the four banks have written to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) requesting such permission for a period of three years. The banks also flag the possibility that the arrangement could be extended to other card issuers in Australia who wish to participate in the collective negotiation and boycott. The banks argue that the collective negotiations will be limited so as to encourage the introduction of mobile wallet and mobile payment services in Australia that best promotes competition, best practice standards, and efficiency and transparency.

At the heart of their request is the claim that third party wallet providers have the power to “impose highly restrictive terms and conditions”. The banks point out that 90% of smartphones sold in Australia run iOS or Android, and Samsung is the leading manufacturer of Android phones. Therefore, they claim, Google has significant bargaining power over Android, Samsung over Galaxy phones, and Apple over iPhones. But it is Apple that the banks say “has particularly significant bargaining power in negotiations relating to Apple Pay due to its control of both a key operating system and key mobile hardware”. They point out that in Australia the iPhone has a share of 41.2% of the market and Apple sells the two most popular phones on the market.

The banks also make the argument that Apple has refused to permit third-party apps from accessing the NFC functionality contained in recent iPhones, unlike other manufacturers. They argue that it is inconsistent with other hardware and software features Apple has introduced such as the iPhone camera, accelerometer, and Touch ID sensor which are available to third-parties. Unfortunately, the banks also cite concerns over high rates of fraud which have since been debunked as spurious and unrelated to Apple Pay. The final key arguments from the banks relate to regulatory asymmetry - the fact that banks are faced with regulatory obligations in relation to fees and charges, but third-party wallet providers are not.

The objective of the banks here is to reach a deal with Apple that would allow them to use their own mobile payment solution on top of the NFC technology in iPhones and other smartphones. That seems to me to be highly unlikely given Apple’s desire to control its platform, grow its services revenue and protect the privacy of its users. Besides, Apple has already been willing to negotiate for nearly 2 years since Apple Pay launched, it seems likely that they are content with playing the long game. Nonetheless, this submission from the Australian banks will likely concern Apple if it is approved as it may inspire banks in other regions to undertake similar actions.

You can read the banks’ full submission to the ACCC here.

[via @TapDownUnder]

Apple Pay Launches in France

Starting today, Apple Pay is now available in France for credit and debit cards issued by Banque Populaire, Ticket Restaurant, Carrefour Banque, and Caisse d’Epargne. Apple’s website also notes that support will soon be added for cards issued by Boon and Orange.

Out of the 4 big banks in France, just BPCE is supported (Banque Populaire and Caisse d’Epargne merged to become BPCE in 2009). There is no word on when cards issued by the other three big banks (BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole or Société Générale) will be supported by Apple Pay.

The international expansion of Apple Pay is slowly but surely gaining momentum, with France now the eighth country which has some level of Apple Pay support. Today’s launch in France comes after Apple Pay launched in Switzerland earlier this month, and all 5 of Canada’s big banks signed up for Apple Pay in early May. The other 5 countries with support for Apple Pay are the US, UK, Australia, China and Singapore.

Apple Pay Now Supported by ANZ in Australia

ANZ has become the first Australian bank to support Apple Pay, turning on support today for most customers with ANZ Visa credit or debit card and ANZ American Express cards. Although Apple Pay technically launched in Australia in November 2015, until today support was extremely limited to just those with an American Express issued card (a similar situation exists in Canada and Singapore).

ANZ is one of the “big four banks” in Australia, and as ANZ gleefully (I assume) point out in their Apple Pay terms and conditions, the other three do not support Apple Pay:

Apple Pay is not currently available at NAB, CommBank or Westpac.

The full list of supported ANZ cards are listed here.

It is interesting to note that most of ANZ Visa cards are supported, but no ANZ MasterCard cards are supported. Interestingly, last week’s launch of Apple Pay in Singapore revealed that Visa support for Apple Pay in Singapore is coming soon to three of their domestic banks.

However, Apple’s Australian website does note that MasterCard support is “coming soon”.

Apple Pay Expands to Singapore Through American Express Partnership→

Juli Clover, writing for MacRumors, reports that Apple Pay has today launched in Singapore:

Apple today updated its website and its Apple Pay support document to note the expansion of the Apple Pay payment service to Singapore. With the addition of Singapore, Apple Pay is now available in six countries, including Canada, China, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Apple Pay is available in Singapore through a partnership with American Express, first announced by Apple in October of 2015. By partnering with American Express, Apple has brought Apple Pay to Singapore, Canada, and Australia and will expand it to Hong Kong and Spain later this year.

Unfortunately, Apple’s partnership with American Express is once again limited to those who have a credit card issued by American Express for now. Those with an American Express card issued by their local bank will not be able to use Apple Pay – it is the same situation to Apple Pay in Australia and Canada. However, things may soon change, as Apple has listed on the Singaporean Apple Pay website that Visa support is “coming soon”, as well as support for DBS, UOB and Standard Chartered.

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Apple Pay Now Supported by Barclays in the UK

Barclays, the last of the United Kingdom’s big four banks, has today finally added support for Apple Pay. With the addition of Barclays, there are now 15 banks in the United Kingdom that support Apple Pay today, nearly 9 months after Apple Pay launched in the UK.

As a quick status update, Apple Pay is today available in 5 countries; the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and China. Apple Pay is supported by virtually all banks in the United States (1,110 to be exact, as of today), and it is supported by 15 banks in China since it launched there earlier this year as a result of Apple’s partnership with China UnionPay. By contrast, Apple Pay is not supported by any Australian or Canadian banks - in those two countries, Apple Pay is limited to those with an American Express-issued card.

[via MacRumors]

Apple Pay Launches in China

Apple Pay today launched in China, where Apple has partnered with China UnionPay which operates the Chinese inter-bank network (in a role analogous to that of Visa and Mastercard). Jennifer Bailey, vice president of Apple Pay, told Reuters that Apple Pay supports 19 of China’s biggest lenders, which means that 80 percent China’s credit and debit cards are eligible for Apple Pay at launch. Bailey also noted that Apple Pay is currently accepted at about one-third of all locations that accept the supported cards.

Unsurprisingly, Bailey thinks that “China could be our largest Apple Pay market”. That is no surprise, in the other Apple Pay markets there is either a shortage of locations which support Apple Pay (United States) or shortage of financial institutions which support Apple Pay (Australia, Canada). The UK is the only country that has a high level of retail location acceptance and financial institution support – but the population of China far exceeds that of the UK.

Apple’s approach is to not compete with banks and UnionPay, said Bailey.

“China UnionPay and our Apple Pay solution has a huge advantage, given the footprint of China UnionPay,” she said. “Its merchant acceptance network far exceeds what any of the other mobile platforms have today.”

For a full list of the supported financial institutions in China, view this page on Apple’s website. Apple Pay is available in China at retail locations, as well as in iOS apps.

[via MacRumors]

Barclays Confirms It Will Support Apple Pay by April→

Update: Engadget accidentally miscalculated the expected launch dates, that has now been fixed.

Barclays customers in the United Kingdom finally have a date for when Apple Pay will be supported by their bank, reports Matt Brian at Engadget.

After first declining to comment at launch, the bank quickly changed its mind and voiced support for the service. It then made customers wait months before offering an “early 2016” launch date at the end of last year. Following another few months of silence and hundreds of irate customers tweets, Barclays CEO Ashok Vaswani has confirmed that Apple Pay support will roll out by April at the very latest.

In an emailed statement to Barclays customer Oli Foster-Burnell, Vaswani said the service will go live “within the next 60 to 75 days.” Depending on the company’s plans, card support could be enabled between March 12th and March 27th. That’s stretching the “early 2016” launch touted last year, but it may be enough to stop some disappointed Barclays customers from switching to another bank.

Barclays will be the last of the big four UK banks to support Apple Pay. By way of a quick update, Apple Pay is now supported by 966 financial institutions in the US and 15 in the UK (not including Barclays). Apple Pay also launched in Australia and Canada – but only for those (limited) few who have a credit or debit card issued by American Express. American Express customers in Spain, Singapore and Hong Kong will also get Apple Pay sometime this year. But in a more substantial rollout, Apple Pay is set to launch in China early this year as a result of a partnership with China UnionPay. Unlike the American Express only roll outs, Apple Pay will launch in China with the support of 15 of China’s leading banks.

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Apple Partners with China UnionPay to Bring Apple Pay to China in 2016

Update (18 December): iMore has a quote from Eddy Cue which lists some of the banks that will support Apple Pay in China; Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, Bank of Guangzhou, Bank of Shanghai, China Construction Bank, China Ever-bright Bank, China Guangfa Bank, China CITIC Bank, China Merchants Bank, China Minsheng Bank, Industrial Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Ping An Bank, Postal Savings Bank of China and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank.

Apple today announced a partnership with China UnionPay, which will see Apple Pay available to Chinese customers as soon as early 2016. China UnionPay operates the Chinese inter-bank network and develops the UnionPay Card network – and its role in China is somewhat analagous to that of Visa and Mastercard.

“China UnionPay is dedicated to promoting payment innovations and providing secure, convenient mobile payment experiences for its hundreds of millions of cardholders, aligning multiple parties in the industry,” said Chai Hongfeng, executive vice president of China UnionPay. “We’re very excited to offer Apple Pay among a diverse set of innovative payment options that work with China UnionPay QuickPass.”

Apple says that it is working with China UnionPay to launch Apple Pay with 15 of China’s leading banks, but provides no firm date apart from saying it will available as “soon as early 2016”. According to Apple, the service needs to go through “tests and certification required by Chinese regulators”. At this stage it is unclear which 15 banks will be supported.

China UnionPay cards are issued by over 165 financial institutions and can be used at more than 26 million merchants, 1.9 million ATMs and to date over 5 billion UnionPay cards have been issued. Today’s announcement will likely make China the fifth country to support Apple Pay, with Spain, Singapore and Hong Kong also getting limited support for Apple Pay sometime in 2016.

“Apple Pay has revolutionized the way millions of people pay every day with their iPhone, Apple Watch and iPad,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. “China is an extremely important market for Apple and with China UnionPay and support from 15 of China’s leading banks, users will soon have a convenient, private and secure payment experience.”

Today’s Apple Pay announcement is a big deal after a rather lackluster year for the service outside of the US. After launching in the US on October 20, 2014, Apple Pay finally expanded beyond the US in July this year when it lauched in the UK. But the UK launch was a bit of a shambles with just eight banks supporting the service at launch and just one of the “big four” – worsened by one of the banks delaying their support by a couple of weeks at the last minute. Then in late October this year Apple announced a partnership with American Express to bring Apple Pay to Australia and Canada, which it did in mid-November. Apple was unable, or perhaps unwilling, to make a deal with local banks – with numerous reports which say there was a deadlock between Apple and the banks over how much Apple should be paid from each transaction made using Apple Pay. The same limited, American Express only, Apple Pay support will roll out to Spain, Canada and Hong Kong starting in 2016.