lolliver

I was one of those customers that signed up for an account with ANZ as soon as they announced support for Apple Pay. I knew it would take a while for the other banks to jump on board and I could have guessed something like this would have happened.

Very hypocritical of them to talk about anticompetitive behaviour when the big banks here do all they can to limit competition themselves to protect their profit margins.

They just want Apple to allow them access to the NFC chip so they can release their own apps and not pay Apple a cent for the privilege.

Hopefully some of the smaller banks will also start to support Apple Pay here soon and more customers can make the switch away from NAB, Westpac and Commonwealth. Then they might learn the value that Apple's platform could provide them.

chasm said:

twolf2919 said:

I'm a big Apple fan - have all their devices - and was very enthusiastic when Siri first came out.  But over the years, Siri has moved inches, while competitors have moved miles - I can't believe a company that spends $22b on R&D can't make its voice assistant more useful in people's day-to-day lives.  So disappointing.

Siri will NEVER EVER be as “smart” as other voice assistants, so you’d better get over this right now. The reason? Because Siri doesn’t heavily rely on the collected data about you that encompasses more than even your parents know about you.

But this is like praising the child who answers the algebra question by looking over another student’s shoulder, and failing the child who did all the work themselves because it took too long IMO.

Exactly this! Siri does what it is meant to do and does it pretty well, without spying on us. Understanding accents does need some improvement and I’m sure there are other areas it could and will improve. 

mike1 said:

I generally love the new design, however they really need to fix how the buttons for lights work. Previously, if you tapped on a light's button, that light would toggle on/off. If it was a dimming light, it would turn on at the last used level. With the latest update, if you tap on a light, it brings up the sub page with the light switch. So, now it takes at least two taps to turn on or off a light. If it's a dimming light, you have to know the preferred dimming level for that light. Definitely a step backwards as far as usability.

On the button for the light, if you tap on the icon in the left of the button it will turn the light on/off. You don't need to go into the sperate sub menu for this. That Sub Menu only opens when you tap on the text component of the button.

amarkap said:

Please know that I'm not meaning to bash Apple (or Apple Pay) when I write this, but honestly I don't really get it too much. I have an Apple Watch and I have used Apple Pay with it, but it was never like a game-changing moment. Partly my fault in that I forget what button to press to bring up Apple Pay on the watch but even the few items it all worked I guess it was just okay. Using a credit card would have been just as well. Again, not earth-shattering cool by any means for me. But I keep reading about how Apple is getting more and more banks and places to come on board...but I never really know why. Is it just to sell hardware? I can't imagine people going the way of Apple just for this. Maybe a little bit sure...but all this has got to be costing Apple some good money. I can say the Share price sure doesn't reflect this initiative. Anyway, no harm no foul I guess so keep going and maybe the new generation prefers all this.

Maybe you haven't heard about the Home Depot or Target hacks and all the credit card info being stolen? Maybe you're completely unaware of credit card fraud and the fact that Apple Pay uses tokenization to ensure your credit card details are never sent to the retailer or able to be skimmed by nearby hackers? It's not just about the ease of use that makes Apple Pay the better option, it's about the significantly better security.

But on the ease of use side, even using the iPhone without an AppleWatch is easier than using a credit card. Most people can get their phone out of their pocket much faster than you can pull out your wallet and get a card out. The Watch is even more convenient. But of course getting a credit card out isn't the hardest thing in the world to do so the convenience of ApplePay won't be a dramatic change to your life. But it is more convenient and is far more secure.

So maybe, just maybe, you don't have an AppleWatch at all and your story is as made up as it sounds. "I have an Apple Watch and I've used ApplePay but I didn't know which button to press, then I did know which button to press and it did work but I still didn't like it".  Sure...  ;-)

dewme said:

Turns out that Apple Maps and Siri saved me from sitting in backed-up traffic for hours due to an accident ahead. My wife in a second vehicle was about 30 minutes ahead of me but was not using Apple Maps. She arrived at the destination more than 2 hours after I did. 

Apple Maps has saved me from long delays a few times also. I now use it regularly on longer trips even when I am familiar with the directions. Just in case there is a delay that Siri can help me avoid. 

I gave up on Tile long before these claims being made by the CEO. So I can’t comment on if they have new issues now or not. But they had problems right from the start for me. They were useless when not near your own phone as very few people have the Tile app installed. 

rob53 said:

Does this mean Apple is bowing to the Australian banks? I hope it only means none banking/purchasing use of NFC.

I wondered the same thing at first. But from what I read in the article I think the access to NFC will be fairly limited.

"Your app can read tags to give users more information about their physical environment and the real-world objects in it. For example, your app might give users information about products they find in a store or exhibits they visit in a museum," the document says.

That doesn't sound like it will enable the banks to create their own mobile payment solutions that leverage of the iPhones NFC.

Good to have you back Dan. Always enjoy reading your articles on stories like this that include a bit more history and context than what other sites tend to write.

spice-boy said:

A very close friend of mine who is 52 hard a heart attack while out running recently, he was wearing his Apple Watch 5. He told me the day after that is Apple Watch never signaled anything was wrong before or during the attack. My point don't put too much weight behind what Apple claims about this device. 

It also doesn't cure cancer, provide immunity against COVID-19, give me the ability to fly or enable me to breath underwater. Of course Apple doesn't claim it can do any of those things either.

Your argument is basically - don't trust what Apple claims the watch can do because the watch can't do the things Apple never claimed it could... 

cgWerks said:

AppleInsider said:

When Apple announced iOS 13 earlier this year, they also opened up support for Sony's Dualshock 4 controllers and Microsoft's Wireless Xbox One controller. So if you already have these two controllers at home, you'll be able to connect these controllers to your Apple devices when Apple's new OS goes live in a couple of weeks.

I have to disagree some here, and advise to just buy a Sony DS4 or Xbox controller and wait a bit (unless you really, really just have to get playing now). While I do like my Nimbus, it isn't a DS4 (in feel, or possibly even quality). It's hard to describe, but it just isn't quite as responsive or ranges/engagement-zones aren't as well designed as the DS4.

So, instead of 'if you have already' I'd say you're more likely to just want to start there.

Agreed. I don't own a PS but I went out and bought a DS4 as soon as I had installed the TVOS13 beta on my AppleTV. Very happy with it and it was far less expensive than the Nimbus.