Apple Pay makes long-awaited debut in Brazil

Posted:
in iPhone
Apple Pay officially launched in Brazil on Wednesday, making good on both promises by Apple and long-standing rumors.




At the moment, support is available only through one local bank, Itau Unibanco, according to Apple's Brazilian website. Some compatible merchants include Taco Bell, Starbucks, iPlace, Drogaria Iguatemi, and Livraria Cultura/Fnac.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said that Apple Pay would be coming to Brazil in a February results call. He provided few other details beyond a 2018 window, though in December people trying to add Itau Unibanco's Visa Platinum Personnalite card to the iOS Wallet ran into a terms-of-service agreement.

Rumors of Brazilian Apple Pay actually reach back to 2016. At the time, Mastercard was expected to be Apple's exclusive launch partner, but today's premiere includes both Visa and Mastercard offerings from Itau.

Apple Pay is now present in numerous countries, such as Canada, China, Japan, Spain, Taiwan, and the U.K. The extent of support can vary considerably -- some regions have just a few banks onboard, while places like the U.S. and China are saturated with card issuers. Merchant adoption remains a problem in the U.S., where some major chains have yet to make the transition, and a few -- above all Walmart and Target -- have actively resisted support.

The platform first arrived in October 2014, a month after the first Apple devices to support it, the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. Most national U.S. banks and credit unions were signed up within the first year, with Apple constantly expanding the list with smaller providers nearly every month since launch.

The technology has since spread to most Apple devices, including iPads, Macs, the Apple Watch, and of course later iPhones. People can pay at retail, in-app, and/or on the Web, depending on the merchant and the device.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 18
    YES!!!
    patchythepiratewatto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 18
    FolioFolio Posts: 698member
    Nice to have Latin America's most powerful economy finally added. ApplePay on its global way!
    Soliwatto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 18
    Unfortunately, Apple long ago gave up on Brazilian market. It used to have competitive pricing about 10-12 years ago, but now its products are just too expensive, with lacking customer support. The cheapest iPhone 8 here costs some US$1,192, while worker's medium income, according to government sources, is just about US$642/mo. Still, I really hope more banks and merchants will support Apple Pay in the near future.
    edited April 2018 watto_cobra
  • Reply 4 of 18
    Merchant adoption remains a problem in the U.S., where some major chains have yet to make the transition, and a few -- above all Walmart and Target -- have actively resisted support.
    And CVS. Where, in 2014, at the CVS about 2 miles away from me I tried ApplePay for the first time to great success. And then, 3 days later, at the same store it failed to work and hasn’t since. Meanwhile, across the street is a McDonald’s, a Dunkin’ Donuts, a dry cleaner, a grocery store and an Ocean State Job Lot that all accept ApplePay. 3 miles down the road from that is a RiteAid that also accepts ApplePay so we’ve been going there more often. 
    lostkiwiwatto_cobra
  • Reply 5 of 18
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    Bem-vindo, Brasil.
    albegarc
  • Reply 6 of 18
    edrededred Posts: 57member
    lplohmann said:
    ...its products are just too expensive.
    Isn't that because of Brazil's high import taxes?
    jbdragonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 18
    caladaniancaladanian Posts: 380member
    Germany, Norway a.s.o. still missing. :/
    albegarc
  • Reply 8 of 18
    edred said:
    lplohmann said:
    ...its products are just too expensive.
    Isn't that because of Brazil's high import taxes?
    In part, yes. But not exclusively, and Apple doesn't seem particularly interested in resolving it.
  • Reply 9 of 18
    sflagelsflagel Posts: 803member
    "Apple Pay now available in...." only refers to bank cards supported by Apple (has anyone ever tried to scan an unsupported card, what happens?). You can use Apple Pay in most countries that have Contactless. Norway is not officially an Apple Pay country, but you can pay with in everywhere, for any amount (if the amount is high, you have to enter your PIN also).
    tokyojimu
  • Reply 10 of 18
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    sflagel said:
    "Apple Pay now available in...." only refers to bank cards supported by Apple (has anyone ever tried to scan an unsupported card, what happens?). You can use Apple Pay in most countries that have Contactless. Norway is not officially an Apple Pay country, but you can pay with in everywhere, for any amount (if the amount is high, you have to enter your PIN also).
    You can scan it but if it's for an supported bank (or an unsupported card from a supported bank) is used there's no backend process that will validate the card for the user, log that device, and then issue that device a digital "card" number tried to the physical card number hat will then be used for Apple Pay transactions. IOW, it will fail.
    sflagel
  • Reply 11 of 18
    eightzeroeightzero Posts: 3,056member
    This is a good article on Apple Pay adoption:

    http://www.loopinsight.com/2018/04/04/gruber-apple-pay-and-a-dark-pattern/

    Gruber and Dalrymple always have insights.


  • Reply 12 of 18
    jbdragonjbdragon Posts: 2,305member
    lplohmann said:
    edred said:
    lplohmann said:
    ...its products are just too expensive.
    Isn't that because of Brazil's high import taxes?
    In part, yes. But not exclusively, and Apple doesn't seem particularly interested in resolving it.


    Brazil applies a 60% flat import tax on most manufactured retail goods!!! That's just ridiculous!!!

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/andersonantunes/2014/11/24/brazils-most-expensive-iphone-becomes-the-subject-of-mockery/#409163b07027

    https://www.macrumors.com/2017/11/23/iphone-x-latin-america-release-dates/
    edited April 2018 watto_cobra
  • Reply 13 of 18
    Folio said:
    Nice to have Latin America's most powerful economy finally added. ApplePay on its global way!
    I guess you mean the most protectionist economy in Latin America. Trinidad & Tobago economy is twice as big if you measure GDP Per Capita. It would be 10 or 20 times bigger is you do it GDP per km2. So just because you are the biggest country you are the most productive one. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 14 of 18
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    Including Brasil, Apple Pay is supported in 27 countries. In the next 3 years I would expect that to at least double.

    • https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207957
    edited April 2018 caladanian
  • Reply 15 of 18
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    lplohmann said:
    edred said:
    lplohmann said:
    ...its products are just too expensive.
    Isn't that because of Brazil's high import taxes?
    In part, yes. But not exclusively, and Apple doesn't seem particularly interested in resolving it.
    I thought that’s why Apple worked with Foxconn to get a manufacturing plant in Brasil.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 16 of 18
    caladaniancaladanian Posts: 380member
    Soli said:
    Including Brasil, Apple Pay is supported in 27 cohntries. In the next 3 years I would expect that to at least double.

    • https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207957
    Hopefully you are right. The rollout just feels so slow, especially in a country like Norway where a competing system called “Vipps” is already in common use. Thx for the link. 
  • Reply 17 of 18
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    Soli said:
    Including Brasil, Apple Pay is supported in 27 cohntries. In the next 3 years I would expect that to at least double.

    • https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207957
    Hopefully you are right. The rollout just feels so slow, especially in a country like Norway where a competing system called “Vipps” is already in common use. Thx for the link. 
    While this is slower than I'd like, I've always expected this to be a slow burn. While the majority of countries already have NFC-capable terminals in place, especially in Europe, Apple has to work with financial institutions for each country to get everything working. I don't know, but I assume that the legal hurdles are more of a problem than the technical ones.
  • Reply 18 of 18
    jbdragon said:
    lplohmann said:
    edred said:
    lplohmann said:
    ...its products are just too expensive.
    Isn't that because of Brazil's high import taxes?
    In part, yes. But not exclusively, and Apple doesn't seem particularly interested in resolving it.


    Brazil applies a 60% flat import tax on most manufactured retail goods!!! That's just ridiculous!!!

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/andersonantunes/2014/11/24/brazils-most-expensive-iphone-becomes-the-subject-of-mockery/#409163b07027

    https://www.macrumors.com/2017/11/23/iphone-x-latin-america-release-dates/
    The 60% rate applies only to individuals purchasing imported products. For companies this is a completely different and much more complex proccess, but very costly still. That said, even Apple “national” iPhones are much more expensive than their foreigner counterparts.
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