Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Apple Working with American Express on iPhone 6 Mobile Payments

recode.net

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 78 posts

Re: Apple Working with American Express on iPhone 6 Mobile Payments

#11

Post by wernercd »

ajross wrote: post #3
blutoot wrote: post #2

How many average joe's carry an American Express? They need Visa/Mastercard and some well-known retailers to make this work from the get-go.

An Amex card is no harder to get than a MC/Visa. Costco has done quite well in the relevant middle-class-american-suburb market with an Amex-only policy. This isn't the barrier. The retail penetration, however, is the barrier. If you can't use these things mostly everywhere, this service is going to be no more successful than Google Wallet.

Chicken or the Egg... which comes first? That's one problem. Must support it in the phone (or wearable) before you can use it at the store... must support it at the store before it's worth supporting on the phone...

The second issue is fragmentation. Look at wireless charging. Two separate solutions. What works at McDonald's won't work at Starbucks (and vice versa). Although both support wireless charging, they support different models. http://www.androidauthority.com/qi-a4wp-wireless-charging-st...

What use is a wireless payment service going to be if 90% of phones can't use it? When there is a competing standard?

Re: Apple Working with American Express on iPhone 6 Mobile Payments

#13

Post by quest88 »

rch wrote: post #10
julianpye wrote: post #6

Apple working with 'INSERT ANY CC PROVIDER' on iPhone 6 Mobile Payments... More interesting is the question which technology will be used. NFC has to play a role here, because the technology is in the market and scalable. My weirder and more riskier bet is that NFC on the Apple wearable will refit all older iPhones with mobile payments. Until now noone has put NFC on a wearable, even though it makes most sense to hav…

They just installed NFC-ready consoles at my local Whole Foods. It could easily be coincidence, of course.

My whole foods has had that for at least a few years.

Re: Apple Working with American Express on iPhone 6 Mobile Payments

#14

Post by twoodfin »

rch wrote: post #10
julianpye wrote: post #6

Apple working with 'INSERT ANY CC PROVIDER' on iPhone 6 Mobile Payments... More interesting is the question which technology will be used. NFC has to play a role here, because the technology is in the market and scalable. My weirder and more riskier bet is that NFC on the Apple wearable will refit all older iPhones with mobile payments. Until now noone has put NFC on a wearable, even though it makes most sense to hav…

They just installed NFC-ready consoles at my local Whole Foods. It could easily be coincidence, of course.

Most PoS systems in the U.S. are being updated to read chipped cards for the big EMV-related liability shift[1], anyway, so it makes sense to add NFC while they're at it.

[1] http://m.us.wsj.com/articles/BL-234B-3681

Re: Apple Working with American Express on iPhone 6 Mobile Payments

#15

Post by t0mas88 »

rmc wrote: post #12
blutoot wrote: post #2

How many average joe's carry an American Express? They need Visa/Mastercard and some well-known retailers to make this work from the get-go.

American Express is not commonly supported outside the USA.

True, although in the Netherlands this seems to be changing in the last few years. A lot of restaurants and stores for clothes/shoes etc are now accepting them. Grocery stores over here almost never accept credit cards.

If Apple sings some kind of exclusive deal for iPhone payments with the credit card companies I expect that half of Europe will start accepting credit cards because people willing to pay for a 600 euro phone are an interesting market segment.

Re: Apple Working with American Express on iPhone 6 Mobile Payments

#17

Post by k-mcgrady »

ajross wrote: post #3
blutoot wrote: post #2

How many average joe's carry an American Express? They need Visa/Mastercard and some well-known retailers to make this work from the get-go.

An Amex card is no harder to get than a MC/Visa. Costco has done quite well in the relevant middle-class-american-suburb market with an Amex-only policy. This isn't the barrier. The retail penetration, however, is the barrier. If you can't use these things mostly everywhere, this service is going to be no more successful than Google Wallet.

>> "An Amex card is no harder to get than a MC/Visa."

Do Amex do a debit card? In Europe (certainly in the UK) debit cards are in much wider use than credit cards and Visa and Mastercard debit cards are given with almost every bank account.

Re: Apple Working with American Express on iPhone 6 Mobile Payments

#18

Post by pilsetnieks »

rmc wrote: post #12
blutoot wrote: post #2

How many average joe's carry an American Express? They need Visa/Mastercard and some well-known retailers to make this work from the get-go.

American Express is not commonly supported outside the USA.

Despite the name, it actually is. Not so much as Visa and MasterCard but it's still quite widespread.

On the other hand, when I see an American tourist trying to pay with a Diners Club, I feel sorry for them.

Re: Apple Working with American Express on iPhone 6 Mobile Payments

#19

Post by pilsetnieks »

k-mcgrady wrote: post #17
ajross wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An Amex card is no harder to get than a MC/Visa. Costco has done quite well in the relevant middle-class-american-suburb market with an Amex-only policy. This isn't the barrier. The retail penetration, however, is the barrier. If you can't use these things mostly everywhere, this service is going to be no more successful than Google Wallet.

>> "An Amex card is no harder to get than a MC/Visa." Do Amex do a debit card? In Europe (certainly in the UK) debit cards are in much wider use than credit cards and Visa and Mastercard debit cards are given with almost every bank account.

Yes, they do (it depends on the issuing bank, though.) I guess technically it's just a credit card with zero credit limit so you have to have some money in the account.

Re: Apple Working with American Express on iPhone 6 Mobile Payments

#20

Post by shalmanese »

rch wrote: post #10
julianpye wrote: post #6

Apple working with 'INSERT ANY CC PROVIDER' on iPhone 6 Mobile Payments... More interesting is the question which technology will be used. NFC has to play a role here, because the technology is in the market and scalable. My weirder and more riskier bet is that NFC on the Apple wearable will refit all older iPhones with mobile payments. Until now noone has put NFC on a wearable, even though it makes most sense to hav…

They just installed NFC-ready consoles at my local Whole Foods. It could easily be coincidence, of course.

Funny, my local Whole Foods that has had NFC readers for years just took them out and replaced them with conventional POS terminals.
Post reply on HN