So it seems Apple managed to cut a deal with Amex directly to rollout Apple Pay soon-ish. Yet another reason to get an amex card if you've been sitting on the fence.
http://www.americanexpress.com/au/content/apple-pay/
Apple Pay Coming to Australia Via AmEx (bank amex excluded)
Related Stores
Comments
What is the benefit of apple pay in Australia?
I understand it is nifty in the USA where they don't already have contactless payment options, but what does it offer us here?
- Extra security, tap + fingerprint
- Less thick wallet for me!
I've been in situations where I intentionally left my wallet at home but had a phone with me then walked past coles/woollies and remember we ran out of something at home. With Apple Pay I can just walk in and get what I need right there and then. There will be others who are more organised and prepared than I do but that the immediate benefit for me.
Also when my phone is stolen I can just lock it remotely. If my wallet is gone I have to call the bank, cancel the card, wait for replacement card etc.
You would only be able to use it at merchants that currently offer contactless AMEX transactions.
There are not many of those around.
Coles, Woles and… that's it basically. In all other cases even when Amex is accepted its contactless support might not be available. It is hard to know that before you try.
I am happy to see Apple Pay coming to Australia, but that's a really limited rollout.
McDonald's, I'm pretty sure.
Once people see folks using their Apple Watch or iPhone to pay for things, it might pressure other banks to partner with Apple which up until now they've resisted. Amex, being in a position to offer credit directly to consumers, allows Apple to bypass that blockade and gain a foothold in this country.
Let's see what happens from here.
I guess it will be a hard sell for apple here. Adding my visa/MasterCard doesn't add a lot to my carry over my phone and they are universally accepted. Amex contactless,not so much, and I use Amex contactless whenever available.
I might be unusual, but I wouldn't have thought so on OzB, but I carry a few payment options ranked by points/cost so I pay Amex where there is no card fee, MasterCard elsewhere with no card fee, and debit or cash otherwise. Hard to see how apple pay would offer that granularity.Any reason to think that Apple can do deals with American banks like Citibank? They already have a deal with Apple in the U.S. so why not here?
I used this today. My Apple Watch is now 17% more useful
Also used it the last couple of days. It works, nothing much to say really. Faster than unlocking the phone and opening an app and lower cognitive burden (sorry, that's the only description I can think of right now). Obviously merchant acceptance will continue to be the main challenge as long as it's exclusive to Amex. Compound that with some older terminals that don't take paypass and merchants that do take Amex but haven't update their terminal to support contactless for Amex. It doesn't replace my wallet but if I leave it at home and only realise it half way to work I probably won't turn around to get it.
I have found most things such as woolies, coles, BP and maccas to all support this so far. Handy option.
"Bank issued American Express Cards will not be supported at this time."