Apple Pay support

I think it’s coming this year and for everyone! :star_struck:

What do you know that we don’t? :face_with_monocle: (kidding, I have a feeling that we should believe you :wink:)

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My guess is that the delay is down to the fact that:

  • Revolut generally treats the EU Single Market as a genuine single market across the entire EEA, not discriminating against residents of one country versus another.
  • Apple incorrectly treats the EU Single Market as 30 separate national markets in each EEA country, discriminating against which goods or services can be obtained according to country of residence. This is particularly evident with iTunes purchases, but also with its roll-out of Apple Pay country-by-country, making a mockery of the EU’s single market.

No doubt Revolut commendably wants to apply the principles of the EU Single Market by making Apple Pay available to residents of all EEA countries, whereas Apple prefers a fragmented approach by unreasonably preventing residents of countries where it has not launched Apple Pay from obtaining the service, even though Revolut is a card issuer based in the UK where Apple launched Apple Pay in 2015.

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I don’t understand why though. If I live in a country where Apple Pay was not launched but I have a card from a country in which it was launched already and the bank supports it, why shouldn’t I be able to use? Why the need to segregate?

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I agree with you. But this is equally a problem where an app developer supplies an iOS app in one EU country and Apple won’t let a consumer in another EU country buy it because they don’t have a payment card issued in the country where the iOS app is supplied. Apple deplorably fails to respect the principles of the EU Single Market, and I expect that Revolut is commendably insisting on respecting those principles.

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Why do you keep blabbering about the EU single market? If its illegal sue them, but I reckon Apple’s legal experts are wiser than to break EU law.

Because the EU Single Market does not allow discrimination by place of residence. See Article 20 of Directive 2006/123/EC for example. This discrimination doesn’t impact me, but as an experienced litigant-in-person, I do successfully issue County Court claims against Apple in the English courts over other matters. In my experience, Apple employees have little knowledge of or respect for the law. They do what they want until legal proceedings commence over a particular matter, but this doesn’t change their overall policy, as any remedy is specific to the consumer who brought the action.

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That would have to be per country I guess :flushed:

OK, from the reading I’ve done you’re wrong. The point of the legislation was to make it easier for businesses to operate all across Europe, however its not mandatory to operate across all of them, or to deploy your things to all of them at the same time. If you think about it, it does defeat the point of the single market, but each country has its own domestic law, so its not as easy as rolling it out to every country at the same time, especially when regulators have to give the go ahead, as they typically do with things involving finances.

Stop posting your anti-apple pro-eu values here, it’s not the place for it. This is a fintech forum, not an EU politics one.

Have a bin-tastic day!

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@Recchan, you are correct that the legislation does not oblige businesses to deploy goods or services across all EU countries, but by pointing this out, you have demonstrated that you misunderstand the issue.

The legislation forbids suppliers from preventing cross-border purchases based on the consumer’s place of residence. For example, a shop in France cannot refuse to sell goods to cross-border shoppers from Germany (for example by refusing to accept payment cards with German IIN/BINs). Equally, Apple’s French iTunes store cannot refuse to sell apps to cross-border shoppers from Germany (for example by refusing to accept payment cards with German IIN/BINs), but Apple does exactly this.

Nobody is suggesting that goods or services should be rolled out or deployed to all EU countries at the same time. The goods or services can be supplied in a single country. In this case, Revolut primarily supplies its services from the UK (albeit with logistical operations in other countries), and Revolut, in the spirit of the EU Single Market, allows consumers in all EEA countries to access its services. On the other hand, Apple does not believe in the principle that goods or services can be supplied in one EU country and purchased cross-border by residents of another EU country.

If I have a UK bank account with a British high street bank, but live in Lithuania (where Apple Pay has not been launched for Lithuanian card issuers), are you suggesting that I should be blocked from having Apple Pay on that UK bank account purely because of the account holder’s postal address? That is precisely the restriction that I believe that Apple is trying to impose upon Revolut.

I should mention that, as a UK resident in 2014/15, I had Apple Pay on my US-issued Amex card a long time before Apple Pay was launched in the UK. No such check was done to make sure that I was a US resident. However, I believe that Apple might be imposing greater scrutiny of country of residence upon Revolut because Revolut markets its services to residents of all EEA countries, despite being UK-based. I believe that Apple looks at where the card issuer markets its products rather than the country in which the card issuer is based.

I’m just stating the law and who respects and fails to respect it. I have made no political comment.

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Totally agree with @NFH

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That’s a strange comment. I didn’t think @NFH was doing that at all. Just pointing out the legal situation.

It’s not him (I assume it’s a him…apologies if not) with a certain agenda here.

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Apple typically sell licenses that they have for specific countries though don’t they? If they’re given a license for the UK they can’t go and sell that to Polish residents? :thinking: I’m not sure at this point so I’ll ask. As for the app store, developers choose where to target iirc, apple doesn’t restrict this on their own accord (I can even download apps from Japanese developers because they haven’t opted out of the UK).

Again with the licensing, if they have a license for music in France they have to restrict it to France, they’ve not got the option of letting a German user buy it?

If your Revolut account is in a country that doesn’t have Apple pay, I don’t think you should be allowed to get around it by having a GB issued card, if you happen to have an account in a country which does support it, you should be able to add it. Not one issued in an unsupported country.

@Recchan - music is a special case. But in any case, a licence restricting a retailer to selling a piece of music in the UK does not mean that HMV in Oxford Street, for example, could refuse to sell it to a Polish resident based on the use of a payment card with a Polish IIN/BIN. That is what Apple does with its iTunes stores. I was referring to apps anyway, not to music.

Again, a licence cannot prevent a music shop in France from selling the music to a German resident based on the use of a payment card with a German IIN/BIN.

What do you mean by “a country that doesn’t have Apple pay”? Do you mean:

  • A country where Apple Pay cannot be used at points of sale? or
  • A country where Apple Pay is not supported for cards issued by local card issuers?

Bear in mind that I can use Apple Pay in Lithuania or any other country where Apple has not yet launched Apple Pay for locally-issued cards. Why should the availability of Apple Pay for local card issuers affect whether or not I can have Apple Pay on a card issued in a country where Apple Pay is available to card issuers? What difference should my postal address make to this?

Revolut won’t get Apple Pay support before Apple Pay launch in Germany. In Germany Apple Pay should be launched during November or December.
https://tyinternety.cz/startupy/cilem-je-v-cr-dosahnout-100-tisic-uzivatelu-apple-pay-prijde-az-po-pilotu-v-nemecku-rika-country-manager-revolutu-david-pavliska/

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Apple Pay’s launch date for German card issuers is very vague, simply “bald” (soon). When it was announced on Monday 5th November 2018, I was expecting German card issuers to launch it a week later, but nothing happened.

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Well, at least for Android users :r: could have implemented Tap&Pay in their app by now (like Boon, bunq, Glase, etc.)…

For dutch customers i think personal now solve problem for Apple Pay Bunq it is 8 euro per month yea and i use too … it is worth ? yea if you want now Apple Pay they offer too Meastro + Mastercard and it is instant money transfer from bank to Bunq.
Im thinking about revolut all money transfer to bunq …
But i prefer dutch own meastro bank Apple Pay …

Everything is licenced to the specific country, the block is done by account location and to have a valid account you must have a valid card registered in the country, they’re not strictly limiting by BIN, as far as I’m aware.

I mean your UK card should be available but your Lithuanian one shouldn’t. Even if your Lithuanian one is issued in the UK. You should be subjected to Apple’s choices for your country, if you don’t like it, don’t buy the phone.

Licensing music for sale in a particular country does not allow Apple to restrict buying of that music in that country, or registration of a consumer to buy that music in that country, based on the IIN/BIN of the consumer’s payment card. That is what Apple does, contrary to what you’re “aware” of.

So you agree that a card issued by my UK card issuer, even if my postal address is in Lithuania, should be allowed to have Apple Pay - good. That also means that Revolut, likewise a UK card issuer, should not be restricted from allowing me to have Apple Pay on my UK-issued card, even if my postal address is in Lithuania. Yet I believe that Apple’s wish to impose such a restriction might be the cause of Revolut’s delay in launching Apple Pay, as explained above.

@Recchan - what exactly do you mean by “your Lithuanian one is issued in the UK”? A card is issued either in Lithuania or in the UK - not both!

Your comment “You should be subjected to Apple’s choices for your country, if you don’t like it, don’t buy the phone” comes across as rather naïve. A consumer might not find out that Apple imposes a restriction by place of residence, contrary to the principles of the EU Single Market, until long after buying the iPhone. In any case, the purchase of digital content (e.g. music, apps etc) is separate from the purchase of the physical goods (e.g. iPhone, iPad etc) and governed by separate contracts.