Ten days after launching in Poland, Apple Pay has vastly outpaced Google Pay uptake
Despite very small overall marketshare for iPhone in Poland, where Android reportedly makes up 64 percent of all smartphones in use, the newly launched Apple Pay has been a tremendous hit, reaching around 200,000 users in its first ten days.
In ten days, Apple Pay has made a huge splash in Poland
While Android has far greater market share in less affluent countries like Poland, Google Pay took four months (12 times as long) to reach its first 25,000 users in Poland. And after more than 18 months of availability (after launching in mid-November 2016), Google Pay has still only reached 300,000 users.
Figures posted by Rzegorz Dbek for TableTowo.pl described the situation as "embarrassing" for Google, which supposedly has 22 million Android users in Poland compared to Apple's roughly 557,000 iOS users.
The situation with Apple Pay mirrors that of other areas where Apple appears to have fewer users, but where its customers are clearly more active, including the race between Apple Music and Spotify in streaming and the market for apps and subscriptions in the iOS App Store versus Google Play.
Further, Google Pay isn't the only way to perform NFC transactions on Android; banks can use HEC (Host Card Emulation) to virtualize credit cards without supporting Google Pay. Even so, adding in Polish bank's own HEC use only amounts to about 1 million Android NFC users in total, despite the platform ostensibly being 40 times larger than the installed base of iOS users in Poland.
As is the case across Europe (and other regions that had deployed NFC payment infrastructure before Apple Pay even launched) Apple Pay was already functional in Poland for users with credit cards associated with a region that officially supported Apple Pay.
Apple Pay was officially supported by eight Polish banks from its launch mid-June. Poland's largest bank, PKO BP, and other smaller institutions are expected to integrate Apple Pay in September.
Apple Pay launched in the U.S. in 2014 and has since expanded to 23 regions around the world, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Ukraine and the U.A.E. and U.K.
Notably absent from that list is Germany, the leading economic power of Europe and one of the E.U.'s most affluent countries. Users who have credit cards from a supported country can use these in Germany via Apple Pay, but banks in Germany do not yet support Apple Pay. That includes the popular N26, a modern online bank in Europe that supports Apple Pay for its cardholders in Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, and Spain but does not yet work for customers in Germany.
Back in 2015, we noted a similar situation for travelers when we successfully used Apple Pay with a U.S. credit card in Switzerland, shortly after Apple launched the service in the U.S. but before it extended official support to Europe.
In ten days, Apple Pay has made a huge splash in Poland
While Android has far greater market share in less affluent countries like Poland, Google Pay took four months (12 times as long) to reach its first 25,000 users in Poland. And after more than 18 months of availability (after launching in mid-November 2016), Google Pay has still only reached 300,000 users.
Figures posted by Rzegorz Dbek for TableTowo.pl described the situation as "embarrassing" for Google, which supposedly has 22 million Android users in Poland compared to Apple's roughly 557,000 iOS users.
The situation with Apple Pay mirrors that of other areas where Apple appears to have fewer users, but where its customers are clearly more active, including the race between Apple Music and Spotify in streaming and the market for apps and subscriptions in the iOS App Store versus Google Play.
Apple Pay is the only way to pay via NFC on iOS
There are a range of reasons behind the vast discrepancy in use. On iOS devices and Apple Watch, Apple Pay is the only way to pay via NFC. On Android devices, using Google Pay requires a device with functional NFC hardware (which many low-end devices lack).Further, Google Pay isn't the only way to perform NFC transactions on Android; banks can use HEC (Host Card Emulation) to virtualize credit cards without supporting Google Pay. Even so, adding in Polish bank's own HEC use only amounts to about 1 million Android NFC users in total, despite the platform ostensibly being 40 times larger than the installed base of iOS users in Poland.
As is the case across Europe (and other regions that had deployed NFC payment infrastructure before Apple Pay even launched) Apple Pay was already functional in Poland for users with credit cards associated with a region that officially supported Apple Pay.
Apple Pay was officially supported by eight Polish banks from its launch mid-June. Poland's largest bank, PKO BP, and other smaller institutions are expected to integrate Apple Pay in September.
Apple Pay launched in the U.S. in 2014 and has since expanded to 23 regions around the world, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Ukraine and the U.A.E. and U.K.
Notably absent from that list is Germany, the leading economic power of Europe and one of the E.U.'s most affluent countries. Users who have credit cards from a supported country can use these in Germany via Apple Pay, but banks in Germany do not yet support Apple Pay. That includes the popular N26, a modern online bank in Europe that supports Apple Pay for its cardholders in Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, and Spain but does not yet work for customers in Germany.
Back in 2015, we noted a similar situation for travelers when we successfully used Apple Pay with a U.S. credit card in Switzerland, shortly after Apple launched the service in the U.S. but before it extended official support to Europe.
Comments
a) they had different launch conditions
b) Android is not really a platform and has little commercial value for anyone
c) Apple is better at working with banks and interesting customers
d) all of the above
Many people in Eastern Europe and Russia do not have credit cards and the banking system is far behind modern western standards.
How is many of those 22m android phones are usd600+?
When the Eastern Bloc and the USSR collapsed many of the newly independant countries wanted to get the latest technology for their banking systems. you had to see how difficult it was to withdraw money, your money from the banks back in say 1994.
They wanted to catch up with the west and fast.
Many Americans were simply too afraid of the Russians to want to go there to do the work so many Europeans stepped in and filled the gap. For these Americans, the 'cold war was not over and the reds were the enemy'.
I put the first ATM system (TuranAlem Bank) into Kazakhstan back in the mid 1990's.
In some areas, they are actually more advanced than the USA which is no longer the centre of the Universe.
Except to try and make iOS look better and possibly distracting from discussion of shortcomings, what else? Didn't Tim Cook somewhat recently voice his disappointment with the slow uptake of Apple Pay? I doubt he's happier about it because Google Pay has been slower. Just enjoy iOS because it fits so well. You don't need Android in order to make believe everything is A OK. At it's root there's something lacking in the design and/or benefits and usefulness of current mobile payment services. Consumers just aren't driven to use it, and much less demand it.
In any event a number of the most engaged Apple fans here have said over and over they're tired of hearing about Google and their assorted services, Android included. Apple and iOS is strong enough to stand on its own and does, no Android needed in order to make it so.
there you go.....don’t get me wrong I owned 2 German made cars and satisfied w them and don’t really hate Europeans, I like them, peace out ✌🏽
Apple helped lay the tokenization infrastructure with the credit card companies. Designed the SecureEnclave chip. Incorporated NFC payment in iPhones, AppleWatch, web and native apps. They also signed up hundreds of US and foreign inssuer banks, while fending off the Australian banks.
Most of the retailers and eateries I visit these days support Apple Pay. It’s a relief when I left my wallet in the office a few times accidentally. Even during my overseas trips, I can consider Apple Pay for transit and shopping. My friends and I also use Apple Pay Cash whenever we settle our bills.
The effort is coherent and consistent throughout. Can’t wait to see what’s next.
Samsung and Google’s efforts are more chaotic. They had to lump different technologies, even those with weaker/older security, together under the same brand name. It is confusing to the users. They don’t really help to push towards a better payment infrastructure.
When people say they're fed up with hearing about Android it's generally directed at all the trolls at AI who love to weave it into any discussion. For example, avon b7 loves to brag about Xaiomi or Huawei any chance he can get.
Regardless, both this thread and the Drake thread have something in common: An Apple service with supposedly fewer users is actually being used more (Apple Pay vs Android Pay and Apple Music vs Spotify). It's no wonder we'll have people upset in both threads and coming up with alternative "theories" to try and explain away Apples success.
You broke your own rule by commenting on this thread man. I thought you were made of sterner stuff!
And I'll second the comment about "Eastern Europe" not being behind the West. I'm always amazed at how backwards the US is when I go there in terms of contactless payments and even Western Europe is lagging. In CEE, about ten years ago they went to chip and PIN because of fraud and it was just a quick step to contactless everywhere. I literally can't remember the last time I had to hand my card over.
Maybe the writer has already hit the nail on the head:
If Android usage is skewed towards the lower end of the market, then perhaps their aren't that many phones out their that support it in relation to the iPhone.
Or are they using something else like SamsungPay?
The answer to this question is very simple, Android users do not have expendable income like those of the iPhone users. Android users are mostly cash spenders they spend what then have in their pockets at the time. This is the same reason why Apple's app store and developers make 2x to 3x that of Google and its developers on the Android store.
The economic conditions around Apple and the Android world have not significantly changes, Apple sell to those who can and want to afford its products and understand the value of the product. Google and Android give their products away to people who have no expectation of value or what something is really worth. This is an economic mind set difference thus the reason why Apple pay is far more successful than android or Samsung pay is or will be.
To your point, I think China is ahead on the whole electronic pay situation, reason I said this a business associate just got back from a trip in China and was traveling outside the cities and the person who was his in country host, stop at a road side vegetable stand and bought some snack for the drive and the person at the stand took electronic payment. They had one of those NFC readers attached to his phone. I still run into store and retailers in the US with POS terminal which show the NFC symbol but have not active the ability to take Apple Pay.
Anyway of course folks with less disposable income will tend towards the lower priced products over the "top-shelf" ones, and they should. They have far more important things to spend their money on. That doesn't mean they don't recognize the value of a smartphone, nor does it mean they won't irresponsibly choose a $1000 one that does no more for them than a $300 one does and forgo better shoes for the kids, or more nutritional meats and vegetables for the family, or a laptop to help them with school studies. I'm sure everyone here has seen relatively poor folks, poorly dressed, overweight, rusty car with dented in fender, and sucking on a soft-drink while wolfing down an extra-large order of fries, but still transfixed to their iPhone browsing Facebook.
Yep. In China, a merchant doesn’t need a POS terminal to accept money. Most of them use QR code. Alibaba and Tencent dominate the payment processor market.
However even in China, Apple’s early decision to support the credit card companies’ EMVCo tokenization payment standard has long lasting implications. The central bank in China are forcing payment processors, including QRCode ones, to integrate with UnionPay’s EMVCo platform. This decouples the monolithic, end-to-end QRCode payment providers, and allows the central bank to manage the payment industry better. They also extended the EMVCo tokenization infrastructure to support standard QRCode payment in the process:
https://www.nfcworld.com/2017/07/19/354016/emvco-standardizes-qr-code-mobile-payments/
Other countries like Thailand and Singapore are also building their national payment platforms around similar infrastructure.
Back in US, when ApplePay first announced their adoption of the tokenization specs to support the credit card companies, existing payment processors were forced to pivot too. These monolithic businesses were trying to position themselves as the ‘choke point’ of the value chain to suck all the passing user payment data. ApplePay was first to push for enhanced user privacy _and security_ in payment.
Looking back, ApplePay helped establish a global payment standard when everyone else was just trying to “be the bank or credit card company themselves”. It was a strategic opening move.