uroshnor

hpaulh said:

New BMWs only? What about us 2014 owners ... how's about an upgrade path???

rotateleftbyte said:

dreyfus2 said:

There is no "beef"here. The, aptly named, Tidal is under water and Apple does not give a shit, as they should.

Apple should offer $0.05 on the dollar. Well, that's all it is worth, half a dime.
Kanye is up to his eyeballs in debt. There is no way Apple should even reduce that by $1.99.

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.

Soli said:

I can't help but wonder if Apple planned the Apple Pay release in the US with the chip card reform because they know it was going to be a poor transition. Besides many still not taking chip cards, the ones that do typically seem to take much longer to work than over swiping the card or using NFC-based payments, the latter of which I don't understand.

I've also encountered completion sounds with chip card readers that sound like a system error (CVS finally updated their readers to a more pleasant "ding" sound), and other places that use to not have you sign for small amounts with the card swipe now have you sign for any amount with the chip card. Since this does slow down the transaction, which can affect sales and customer satisfaction I've suggested their call their hosting company to see if they can get an update pushed that will forego the signing under a certain threshold. So far, nothing seems to have changed on that front, for the places I frequent.