UK's Lloyds Bank says Apple Pay support coming 'very soon'
U.K. institution Lloyds Bank on Friday sent an email to its customers, informing them that Apple Pay support is coming "very soon" for credit and debit card holders.
As is common with mobile transactions in the country, people will only be able to make purchases up to ?20 in most cases, according to MacRumors, which obtained a copy of the email. Lloyds offered few other details, other than to list current devices that support Apple Pay.
Lloyds is one of several major U.K. banks that have promised to join Apple Pay but have yet to set a firm date. The others are Halifax, Barclays, and the Bank of Scotland.
Firms already onboard include HSBC/First Direct, MBNA, Nationwide, NatWest, the Royal Bank of Scotland, Santander, and Ulster Bank.
One possibility is that Apple will use a rumored September 9 press event to briefly announce expanded Apple Pay support. If so, the company might also reveal plans to launch the platform in Canada. The focus of that event should be on new iPhones and an Apple TV.
As is common with mobile transactions in the country, people will only be able to make purchases up to ?20 in most cases, according to MacRumors, which obtained a copy of the email. Lloyds offered few other details, other than to list current devices that support Apple Pay.
Lloyds is one of several major U.K. banks that have promised to join Apple Pay but have yet to set a firm date. The others are Halifax, Barclays, and the Bank of Scotland.
Firms already onboard include HSBC/First Direct, MBNA, Nationwide, NatWest, the Royal Bank of Scotland, Santander, and Ulster Bank.
One possibility is that Apple will use a rumored September 9 press event to briefly announce expanded Apple Pay support. If so, the company might also reveal plans to launch the platform in Canada. The focus of that event should be on new iPhones and an Apple TV.
Comments
PS: WWDC didn't have the standard numbers, graphs, and milestones intro. I expect them to do it this time, and I hope they cover Apple Pay. I also hope we get an entire segment devoted to new advancements in Apple Pay (namely, how Apple will make it work for purchases via a browser), and a long list of new retailers coming on board over the coming months.
For the former, I would expect the NFC chip (read: SE) to be included in future Macs; and hopefully with Touch ID (although that would likely only be announced if there are new Macs, which isn't likely to happen until the October event). But how does one do Touch ID in a Mac Pro which might not even be within arm's length? Even on a iMac it would probably be anesthetically pleasing to not have that on the keyboard, but would you do that with a BT or USB keyboard? I don't think so.
For the latter, If I were running Apple I would stop releasing new retailers for Apple Pay at this point but work to get more to commit to it so I can have a big fancy graphic with up and comers for the event and the posted screenshots around the web. Of course, some would still filter out because Apple can't easily control 3rd-party leaks and there is no way they would shun a retailer who is willing to formally accept Apple Pay.
Meanwhile ... Barclays remain noncommittal on the date of them rolling out Apple Pay
And Barclaycards launch the monstrosity that is bPay.
In fact, I noticed that it was advertised that you don't even need a ticket but can instead use your credit card directly. I would imagine this would be possible using an iphone, too. It would be great to avoid tickets altogether and just pass the iphone as you enter.
Meanwhile ... Barclays remain noncommittal on the date of them rolling out Apple Pay
And Barclaycards launch the monstrosity that is bPay.
Yet Barclays Bank in the US does support Apple Pay.
In fact, I noticed that it was advertised that you don't even need a ticket but can instead use your credit card directly. I would imagine this would be possible using an iphone, too. It would be great to avoid tickets altogether and just pass the iphone as you enter.
Since you can avoid tickets altogether and just use contactless cards (Oyster, or debit/credit), and have been able to for quite a while, this isn't such a huge step. Nice though.
Not for the traveler but great for Apple.
There is a big difference between Oyster and just using your phone. Topping up the Oyster is a pain. Using a cc instead of ticket is the same but the goal is not to have to carry the cc.
Topping up Oyster is not a pain, you can set up auto top up very easily, and the silo of Oyster brings with it security in itself. And on the other side of the spectrum, credit cards are still accepted in a lot more places than ?Pay, and will be for a while yet.
Don't get me wrong, ?Pay is great, but let's not paint it as so much of a revolution. It's a gradual step to something better.
I totally agree that ?Pay will take a while but one day (pretty soon), credit cards will look like cheques and fax machines today. You know, redundant.
I have concerns about using it on buses & Tube however. Transport for London have daily & weekly caps that get linked to whatever credit card you use which is great but does mean you need to use the same card every time.
With Apple Pay's tokenisation your watch, phone and original credit/debit card end up looking like 3 different cards. So if battery runs out on your normal device you could still use one of the others - but now it's an unlinked journey that you pay full fare for even if you've hit a cap on your primary device. This makes it way less valuable to my mind especially as the Watch has destroyed my phone's battery life ...
Even worse - if you run out of battery mid-journey you can't tap off or prove yourself to a ticket inspector raising the possibility of a maximum fare and/or a fine.
Cubic is rolling out the exact same thing out in Vancouver BC (Compass card), but CC's aren't accepted at the tap-in points yet (might not be for a while.)
I have a feeling that the tokenisation is by design in this case. Someone who regularly rides the Tube (or Skytrain in Vancouver) would be using their Oyster/Compass card that is already linked to their Credit Card by the transit company. Guests (Eg tourists) would likely be taking 1-way trips and this would not be an issue.
The thing is, the kind of people who would be using their Apple Pay-enabled device to do this is probably so low that it would only ever be noticed by someone who has that exact situation (eg they tap in with the watch but later tap out with the iPhone, and notice the charges changed.) So this is something that Cubic has to figure out a solution for, it may require a phone/watch app that is called instead of the ApplePay app, that acts as a virtual Oyster card that is topped up by Apple Pay.
Meanwhile in Australia
http://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/apple-pay-being-repelled-by-big-banks-20150815-gizz6y.html