Under pressure from Europe, Apple will allow, from March, third-party services to use the contactless function of its iPhones. An opportunity for banks, which will be able to offer mobile payment without using Apple Pay. With, undoubtedly, a degraded experience for the user.
Apple eventually folded. Under pressure for many years from European institutions, the powerful Californian firm will comply and comply with European law on digital markets (Digital Markets Act or DMA), adopted a year ago. She confirmed, in particular, that the next update of iOS, expected for mid-March, would allow third-party payment services to use the NFC chip of its iPhones. In other words, it will become possible to pay contactless in store with your iPhone without using Apple Pay.
This development, obviously, opens up perspectives. From next month, banks will, in theory, be able to offer their customers pay directly with their mobile applications, without having to import their bank card into Apple Pay. Same thing for digital wallets, like PayPal, Paylib or Lyf Pay. Will they seize this opportunity? This is in their interest: doing without Apple Pay also means saving on commissions paid for each Apple payment.
Apple Pay, Google Pay, Paylib… You will soon have the choice to pay with your iPhone
A degraded experience compared to Apple Pay?
Asked by The echoes, Martina Weimert, general director of EPI, in charge of the development of Wero, is however not certain that this will completely open up the game. The pan-European and interbank instant payment solution, which will replace Paylib from this year, is planned to use the NFC function of the iPhone to allow payments in store. But the project could come up against certain constraints maintained by Apple.
Payments: what is this PPE that will replace Paylib and wants to compete with the bank card?
According to The echoes, the Apple firm could prevent financial institutions from reproducing the user experience offered today by Apple Pay. To pay for a purchase, users only need to make double click on the home button from their smartphone then identify yourself with Face ID (facial authentication) or Touch ID (digital authentication), depending on their iPhone model. However, Apple has already announced that it will not allow financial institutions to access the security component which stores the user’s biometric data.
Clearly, everything indicates that paying with your banking application will be more complicated than with Apple Pay: you will certainly have to unlock your phone, open your banking application and, potentially, enter a code to validate the payment. Why would a user the choice of a degraded experience for the same result? The banks will have to find arguments.