ppietra

cropr said:

kevin kee said:

sirlance99 said:.

People often misunderstood that Apple Pay is only NFC chip. What Apple protect here is their implementation of transaction or surprise, consumer's security. If you read how Apple Pay works, Apple has no access to transaction whatsover. Bank still keeping the controls of all transaction and tokenization. Apple simply play as a conduit, but a very secure conduit, compare to Samsung Pay. Which is why I stated, by giving away that particular control to bank, Apple is jeopardizing consumer's security, not something that Apple design Apple Pay for.

The consumer security is not jeopardized when the control is given to the bank, your statement is plain BS.

The moment it would become known that a bank is taken security not as seriously as it should, the customer would lose the trust in the bank and would redraw all his money from the bank.  Despite their commercial tactics, we all hate, we do trust banks

ireland said:

If Apple doesn't bundle Lightning EarPods with the iPhone I'd be very surprised. If that dongle is true I'd imagine it would be an add-on accessory.

cnocbui said:

EsquireCats said:

Australian banks are even more profitable than their Swiss counterparts - on part because they pull stunts like this, but mostly because they have absurd fees that are significantly out of order to the services provided. This is the result from a lack of real competition.

Despite Australia's relatively small population, transaction fees were over 2 billion in 2015. Make no mistake, this is what the banks are protecting - they don't give a damn about consumers or competition. In fact they try to harm competition at every opportunity.

The suggestion that any or all providers of closed-NFC hardware must open such hardware for competitors is idiotic. There is no such thing as having a monopoly on your own platform. Meanwhile Commonwealth Bank's latest EFT terminal deliberately excludes support for American Express, a clear indication that they are two faced about such an approach.

The "modern" solutions provided by these banks are laughable and lacking in security. One such example is the Commonwealth Bank's stick-on NFC token which they advise to stick onto your smart phone. The problem here is that sales under $100 are completely pin code free, and should the phone be stolen the primary means of managing the token is taken away. Compare that to Apple Pay which requires a finger print for verification, and utilises a tokenised transaction and it's clear that the banks aren't interested in even basic protections for consumers.

This whole thread is a laugh.  Boo hoo, big mean Australian banks with their terrible monopoly and no competition.

ANZ, Westpac, Commonwealth, NAB, that's all there is for a poor bank choice impoverished ausie to choose from, right?  That's the usual whinge, right?  Don't mention the other 339 banks, building societies, credit unions and such you could choose from, that would spoil the story, wouldn't it?  A population of about 20 million and only 343 financial institutions to choose from, boo hoo, there's no competition!

The big 4 are big and stay big because they are amongst the best financial institutions available in the world.  Seriously, if you think Australian banks are a rip off, move to another country and live there for a while.  I currently live in Ireland and have lived in Australia.  I'll take Australian banks anytime, I have accounts in both countries.  You complain of fees - ha!  Try an Irish bank.  I have my quarterly fees statement right here next to me.  €10.35 for Account maintenance, 24 electronic transactions and 3 ATM withdrawals.  I have taken to withdrawing my max cash ATM amount and paying cash wherever possible.  I have an ANZ account that I consider expensive in terms of fees, which amounted to €4 for the quarter; my accounts with another Australian bank attract no fees whatsoever.  Australian banks provide a lot of value for the fees they charge.  If you think those charges are out of order, tell us where you think the services provided are better and the fees lower.

You mention Swiss banks.  You want absurd fees try dealing with one of those.  I asked about being able to check my balance online and they said they could provide me an electronic security device for secure login.  That will be €85 Herr ******.  No thanks.  Rabo Bank gave me one for free.  Swiss banks have a sense of supercilious entitlement and charge like wounded bulls.  It's a wonder they haven't become extinct.

You think Australian bank fees of $2 B a year amount to expensive?  Are you kidding?  The reason Australian banks don't want to provide Apple Pay is because their transaction fees are so low and Apple is asking for the same cut they get in the US - Duh!  Australian banks charge half the interbank fees US banks charge.

No such thing as monopoly on your own platform?  Right, OK, so Australian banks provide the entire electronic banking infrastructure and platform in Australia so it's Ok for them to tell Apple to take a hike.  Right, gotcha. "Meanwhile Commonwealth Bank's latest EFT terminal deliberately excludes support for American Express, a clear indication that they are two faced about such an approach."  But you just said the provider of the platform...   Forget it, you probably wouldn't understand.

You really are pushing it.  If you use an NFC card in Australia, the transaction is tokenized, that is not an Apple invention and is not exclusive to Apple Pay.  There is no security on NFC transactions under $100 because the banks are prepared to reimburse you for any fraud involving such transactions and to wear the cost because it so minuscule compared to the efficiency savings, so in terms of the security of YOUR money, there is no advantage with Apple Pay.