Australian banks eliminate fee demands, focus legal assault on opening up Apple Pay NFC te...
The four Australian banks at the core of the ongoing debate about opening up Apple Pay in the country have narrowed down their demands after being snubbed by the country's competition regulator, and are now solely focusing on opening access to iPhone and Apple Watch NFC technology.
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank, and Westpac have dropped fee negotiations, saying that access to core Apple Pay NFC technology would benefit retailers, boost loyalty programs, and enhance touchless payments as a whole. The banks believe that there is "no genuine competition" in Australia, leaving Apple with a "stranglehold" on the marketplace, should it be allowed to bring a closed system to the country's banks.
"Open access to the NFC function, as occurs on the world's most popular and widely installed mobile operating system Android, is important not just to the applicants and mobile payments, but to a range of NFC-powered functions across many sectors and uses," said the bank's collective spokesman Lance Blockley in a statement. "This has global implications for the use of NFC on smart phones.
"The applicants expect that Apple Pay would be offered to their customers alongside open access to the NFC function," added Blockley. "Any delay or frustration will be as a result of Apple refusing to negotiate."
The four banks last year filed a complaint with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), asking to collectively negotiate for access to the same NFC technology Apple Pay uses. Although a final ruling isn't likely until March at the earliest, a draft decision appears to have already shot down the idea.
Only one major national bank, ANZ, currently supports Apple Pay in Australia. Alternatives from international firms ING and Macquarie are also available in the country.
Apple has insisted that allowing third-party access to its NFC technology would compromise security, and that device owners would have to manually pick which app uses the chip anyway, potentially reducing adoption. On Friday, Apple Vice President Jennifer Bailey decried the legal maneuvering.
"While initially, in many markets, there have been banks that have initially been wary about working with a company as large as Apple, once they begin to work with us and understand the Apple Pay platform, they see the benefits of it," Bailey said. "That hasn't fully happened with the ACCC applicants, because the conversation is happening through the ACCC process, compared to what normally happens, which is we have the conversation bilaterally."
Bailey noted that Australians are using Apple Pay more often each month than customers in any other country, credited to "Australia being a recognized global leader in contactless payments and usage." Over 26 percent of ANZ customers are using the platform.
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank, and Westpac have dropped fee negotiations, saying that access to core Apple Pay NFC technology would benefit retailers, boost loyalty programs, and enhance touchless payments as a whole. The banks believe that there is "no genuine competition" in Australia, leaving Apple with a "stranglehold" on the marketplace, should it be allowed to bring a closed system to the country's banks.
"Open access to the NFC function, as occurs on the world's most popular and widely installed mobile operating system Android, is important not just to the applicants and mobile payments, but to a range of NFC-powered functions across many sectors and uses," said the bank's collective spokesman Lance Blockley in a statement. "This has global implications for the use of NFC on smart phones.
"The applicants expect that Apple Pay would be offered to their customers alongside open access to the NFC function," added Blockley. "Any delay or frustration will be as a result of Apple refusing to negotiate."
The four banks last year filed a complaint with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), asking to collectively negotiate for access to the same NFC technology Apple Pay uses. Although a final ruling isn't likely until March at the earliest, a draft decision appears to have already shot down the idea.
Only one major national bank, ANZ, currently supports Apple Pay in Australia. Alternatives from international firms ING and Macquarie are also available in the country.
Apple has insisted that allowing third-party access to its NFC technology would compromise security, and that device owners would have to manually pick which app uses the chip anyway, potentially reducing adoption. On Friday, Apple Vice President Jennifer Bailey decried the legal maneuvering.
"While initially, in many markets, there have been banks that have initially been wary about working with a company as large as Apple, once they begin to work with us and understand the Apple Pay platform, they see the benefits of it," Bailey said. "That hasn't fully happened with the ACCC applicants, because the conversation is happening through the ACCC process, compared to what normally happens, which is we have the conversation bilaterally."
Bailey noted that Australians are using Apple Pay more often each month than customers in any other country, credited to "Australia being a recognized global leader in contactless payments and usage." Over 26 percent of ANZ customers are using the platform.
Comments
One system app would then control the radio interaction and user interface for consistency and quality of experience.
They still need to be able to have a lights-out RFID mode for some of these uses like transport cards.
Maybe it's the same as the alternate AppStore argument. People want either to avoid the cost of doing business on Apple's turf, or have control of the experience Apple provides. And this takes me back to the movie theater analogy. Apple's OS (iOS) is like the theater. They don't allow in outside food, and they don't provide access to the projectors. It's Apple's place of business. Control over it is a big part of the reason operating systems are licensed, not sold. The intellectual property that runs your iPhone belongs to Apple, not to the owner of the physical handset. Apple isn't telling anyone they can't have access to the NFC chip; heck, you can rip the phone apart and dig in there and pull out the NFC circuitry, for all the good it'll do you. Yup, as the owner of the phone, it's yours. But you can't utilize it via Apple's OS in ways Apple doesn't approve of. Jailbreak and do whatever you like.
There is no competition and Apple has a stranglehold.
/s
In Australia people with this problem are changing their bank to ANZ. Somehow the way the other big three banks are making excuses and outright bollox remind me of The Donald's modus operandi.
Android is open, so therefore they should be able to tap into Apple's security system - which is safe because Apple does not allow intrusions such as this.
There are no words...
You can't really replace things that use passive RFID cards unless the system has a way of working unpowered. If NFC chips failed so that is functionally the same as current passive RFID cards (powered by the reader) then the problem is no more. Any more sophisticated function would be limited to powered situations but at least that would take away the common problem. A dead phone would then be no different to a wallet full of cards.
I guess the Banks are hoping the ACCC doesn't work out. After all the function they say they want to provide would have this issue that can only really be solved by the hardware manufacture and supply partners not just the software driving it.
Nobody wants to have to unlock their phone, find, open and unlock their banking app, then select their card - we might as well go back to carrying cash!
The Commonwealth Bank app has a Loyalty Card Wallet built in and it's horrible - it doesn't even offer Widget support so you can access your favourite loyalty cards without unlocking. If this is the best they can offer now, what makes them think they can do better with NFC access‽
These passive systems will answer to any sender/receiver that ist strong enough and will shout out your data without any control. I think it was a british university that did a setup (in the size of an A4 paper with easy to buy materials) that could read out the data from up to 0.75 meters! That's also why I wouldn't want a lights out NFC system in my iPhone.
So many store checkout people are amazed when I pay with my iPhone 6 which would indicate the adoption of any kind of phone payment system is very much in its infancy here.
That said, I know a lot of people who are hanging out for their bank to adopt it so they can use it. Take your business elsewhere I tell them.
The hold out banks make record profits year in year out and yet they still want to screw customers some more. Shame on them.