Roger Fingas
During its WWDC keynote, Apple solidified rumors by announcing that Apple Pay will be coming to France, Switzerland, and Hong Kong in the next several months.
The company did not set a firm timeframe for any region, but has since launched webpages identifying which banks, credit cards, and retailers will be taking part. Visa and MasterCard will be accepted in all three areas, for example, while American Express cards will work only in Hong Kong.
In France, initial card issuers will include Banque Populaire, Boon, Caisse Epargne, Carrefour Banque, Orange, and Ticket Restaurant. Only 18 retailers other than Apple will be onboard, such as Boulanger, Dior, FNAC, Orange, Parkeon, Sephora, and Simply Market.
Switzerland's issuers will be limited to Bonus Card, Cornèrcard, and Swiss Bankers. Just 11 non-Apple retailers will be supported, some examples being Aldi, Avec, Lidl, Spar, and TAG Heuer.
Residents of Hong Kong will have six banks to choose from: Bank of East Asia, Bank of China, DBS, Hang Seng, HSBC, and Standard Chartered. The city is home to the best retailer support of the new regions, with 29 partners mixing American brands like 7 Eleven, Pizza Hut, and Starbucks with numerous Chinese companies.
The major Apple Pay announcement during the WWDC keynote was support for Mac payments, something coming this fall. Shoppers will need to be using Safari or Messages, however, and have either an Apple Watch or a nearby device with Touch ID to authenticate.
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The situation in Switzerland is a bit different. Before Apple Pay launches almost all major retailers have Apple Pay enabled. NFC-enabled checkout terminals are in many places and work for Apple Pay user from the US/UK.
The challenge for Apple in Switzerland is quite another: many of the large Swiss banks collaborate on a competing mobile payment system. Most of them are actively trying to block Apple Pay from entering the market.
Additionally, it is quite uncommon to pay by credit card. Cash is the preferred method of payment, followed by debit cards, which have three times more transactions than credit cards.
As with Canada (but unlike the US), the claim of limited merchant support is deceptive. Throughout Europe, most merchants (70 percent or higher) have long ago switched to POS terminals that support EMV and "contactless" standards, and thus support Apple Pay and similar NFC-based mobile wallet technologies. In Canada, the percentage is around 70-plus percent of merchants, and I expect that figure will be similar in European countries. The US is very far behind the times on its support of EMV and contactless cards -- we've had them in Canada for a decade now. Hopefully, this will change now that regulations (finally) mandate EMV-compatible terminals.
In practical and trend oriented prediction, most in world will move to cashless, contactless payment system. Those who move sooner will be better off for them and their consumers. Less fraud and easier to manage.
With TWINT rapidly gaining a big userbase in Switzerland, paired with high credit card fees and support from the major banks, ApplePay is going to have a hard time succeeding here. Serves them right. They could have owned the market if they hadn't been dragging their feet for years. The infrastructure was ready for ApplePay years ago.
So far, here in Canada, Apple Pay has worked for me at every place I tried to use it that has Tap-to-pay. There is one issue thought that has been bothering me ever since Apple Pay was introduced. Apple Pay doesn't support returns/credits and this is an issue with most retailers if you want to return an item that was purchased with Apple Pay. Retailers only issue credits to the same credit card that was used for the original purchase. You present the credit card and they match it to the credit card number attached to the POS record. This isn't possible with Apple Pay because the retailer does not have the credit card info from the original purchase. This was even pointed out to me at a Staples store when I said I would pay with Apple Pay. The cashier quickly warned me that they would not be able to do a refund, they could only do a store credit if I used Apple Pay.
This is a big problem in need of a solution. Either Apple comes up with a solution or retailers change their policy or process. In Toronto where I live, almost every clothing store lets you do as many returns as you want, no questions asked. A lot of people, specially women, walk out of the store with a lot more things than they expect to keep, try them out at home, and return the staff they don't want. To do the return you must present the original card that was used for the purchase. I think this is going to be a nightmare to deal with as Apple Pay becomes more popular. Retailers and consumers don't seem to be aware of this problem.