Apple Pay Said to Launch in Switzerland on June 13

Finally I can use Pay with my secret Swiss bank account.

How prevalent is contactless there, out of curiosity?

Basically everywhere!

Even the guy who delivers my pizza brings a mobile credit card terminal which supports contactless...

They should have called it iPay :) That has a nice ring to it. And describes what it actually does lol.

How prevalent is contactless there, out of curiosity?

Where it works:
- The two biggest supermarket chains, Coop & Migros and their multitude of goods and restaurant subsidiaries;
- Chevron (branded as Coop Pronto) gas stations (not at the pump though);
- Aldi (discount grocery);
- SPAR (big grocery chain in Austria);
- Jumbo (a big hardware and garden store);
- IKEA and IKEA restaurant;
- McDonalds;
- Kiosk (convenience store oft found at train stations);
- local specialty liquor and gourmet shop;
- local bike and Vespa shop;
- various local larger restaurants;
- my local barber, now semi-retired from a 10-chair hi-volume mall based shop to a little 2-chair shop in his home;
- some car dealers;
- seems almost anybody on the Sixt payment network;

Far as I know, still no-go;
- almost no gas stations (although some have NFC terminals, they don't appear to be active - BP, this is you!)
- Manor / Manora (big dept store and restaurant chain);
- Lidl (discount grocery);
- Otto's (odd lot grocery/dept store);
- busses or rail;
- medium and small individual restaurants;
- Subway (restaurants);
- Post Office
- government entities (DMV);
- phone, cable, electric companies;
- ski lifts (not sure about this due to not skiing last 2 years due to bad knee);

There are some home-grown solutions being pushed by the Post Office Bank and other entities that consist of CurrentC-like scanning of QR codes or contactless scanning of something (Twint), that I see but never looked into because these I see as solutions without a great future (obsolete tech like QR approach, or too little scale like Twint) given the rise of NFC based solutions like Apple Pay.

TL;DR? Summary:
- (My credit cards are US-based chip+sign version. If you have cards from a not-yet rolled-out Apple Pay nation, they won't work);
- (my iTunes account is US-based, but my region setting is for Switzerland. To enable my cards, on both IPhone and Watch, I switched region to USA, enabled cards, then switched back to Swiss region w/o disrupting Apple Pay functionality);
- Since Dec 2014, I've been using Apple Pay almost everywhere I shop;
- since last June, these transactions have been exclusively via my Apple Watch;
- both work faster than a chip+pin or a chip+sign card;
- I see more and more shops upgrading to NFC POS terminals;
- there are competing systems from Post Bank (IIRC Twint), UBS Bank (don't know name), Swisscom (has/had? something) and MC Pay-Pass (IIRC RF-chip stickers). (In order to survive, I expect some of these entities will exhibit their own "protectionist" approach as ApplePay et Alia forces consolidation among these national/regional offerings);
- 2-weeks ago I met one of the leading software integrators for POS software and had a long discussion about this tech. I was surprised when he said he thought Apple's reserving TouchID for Apple Pay was "protectionist" and had the impression he didn't fully understand the Apple Pay approach (I'm curious as to how he will view this announcement);
- Coop did a cool thing for their Supercard members: go to the online site and in your profile state that you don't want printed receipt and you will get a pdf receipt by mail.

Final comments:
- I'm essentially to the point where I don't really have to carry credit/Maestro cards anymore;
- I don't think merchants have yet embraced such payment as equivalent to chip+pin as above ca. 50 CHF I still have to sign the receipt.
- I'm gonna miss the look of surprise and amazement from some cashiers caused by my being the only person in my end of the country paying for stuff with my Apple Watch.
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I'm looking forward to the day when Apple Pay and Touch ID gets integrated into Safari and websites, instead of running through the maze of clunky PayPal login every time. PayPal knows Apple has them in their crosshairs and their days are numbered (except on eBay). That's why PP is scrambling with their new always logged in (security nightmare) "feature".

Also looking forward to PP being slain by Apple Pay. That and Apple Pay adding a P2P payment function.

Next stop: POLAND.

One can dream, right?

I'm looking forward to the day when Apple Pay and Touch ID gets integrated into Safari and websites, instead of running through the maze of clunky PayPal login every time. PayPal knows Apple has them in their crosshairs and their days are numbered (except on eBay). That's why PP is scrambling with their new always logged in (security nightmare) "feature".

I've used it every single day for every transaction since it came to Canada. Couldn't be happier with it

Do people use it much?

I suspect it's the same as in Poland.

Contactless payments are... how to call it... normal. They were introduced a long time ago, banks can issue you even a sticker with NFC that you can use for paying.



Banks with mobile carries have even work it through to be independent of your phone/system and you can have a special SIM card with NFC. Only US stands in place with technology.



And it's not about introducing, but about widespread usage and acceptance.

I surely am spectacularly misinformed.

I'm not from the U.S. None taken.

I'm obviously from Switzerland and can't - yet - think on one advantage Apple Pay would have if I need to apply for a free but not so free credit card. They end up charging you all kind of fees for almost every single transaction right ?

But as I said I am spectacularly misinformed. Maybe my fellow swiss members could enlighten me with all the great advantages or disadvantages that would come with a free MasterCard SupercardPlus.

According to the summary I've attached below, the benefits of the MC Coop Supercard aren't as rich as those seen with the free CC's on offer in the USA. There are also a lot of little administrative charges that one doesn't tend to see with USA based free cards.

From the summary, advantages seem to be that one does earn Supercard points when shopping at other merchants and there is purchase return insurance (the details are scant, and I'm going to do some more research), and if the card issuer buys into Apple Pay, then there is this advantage.

I'm going to look for more expanded AGB's (GT&C) to see what other benefits there might be (but I also note that this card is issued by Credit Suisse who as a member of the Swiss banking oligarchy is good at charging high fees for not commensurately better customer service.)

http://www.coop.ch/pb/site/common2/get/documents/coop_main/elements/supercardplus/2015_Relaunch/PDF/Neue-PDFs-2016/16230_Coop_SCplus_Leistungsuebersicht_D.pdf?secure=true

COOP AGB's:

http://www.coop.ch/pb/site/common2/get/documents/coop_main/elements/supercardplus/2015_Relaunch/PDF/ab_01072015_AGB_Consumer_D.pdf?secure=true

MIGROS:

Migros CC (issued by Ceremba, former GE Capital) is similar to that from Coop. It doesn't seem to offer purchase return insurance but it does offer a better travel insurance than the Coop card does. Depending on the relative redemption value of Cumulus vs Supercard points, the rewards for out of system purchases seem greater with Migros 1 pt/2 CHF than with Coop 1 pt/3 CHF.

MIGROS AGB:

https://www.migros.ch/dam/jcr:94fe79bd-a349-4e39-9328-f2d1399026ea/Cembra_Cumulus_MC_Feetable_V3-01-2016_D.PDF

Twint is great so far.

If Apple Pay can't pair with my debit card I won't consider using it. Don't make any sense to have a credit card. Don't like the concept at all. Credit. Thanks no thanks.

I sure hope you are joking. or else you are spectacularly misinformed of what good credit cards can offer if used correctly.

just a few things that my BMO credit card does and it isn't even the best one.

* 1.75% cash back on all purchases
* free roadside assistance and towing

* extended warranty for 2 yrs on all purchases
* 180 days protection from theft and damage on all purchases