PayPal Launching Contactless iPhone Payments in Germany to Compete With Apple Pay - MacRumors
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PayPal Launching Contactless iPhone Payments in Germany to Compete With Apple Pay

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PayPal today announced that it is planning to debut contactless payments in Germany, allowing German iPhone users to make tap-to-pay purchases in stores using their PayPal accounts.

paypal tap to pay germany
PayPal is able to offer this feature because Europe's Digital Markets Act has forced Apple to open up the NFC chip in its devices to third-party apps. NFC payments are available in apps without the need for Apple Pay or the Wallet app, allowing third-party payment services and banks to offer their own tap-to-pay solutions on Apple devices.

European users are able to choose a default app that is activated when an iPhone is near an NFC terminal or when the side button on the device is double pressed, so paying in stores with PayPal is as seamless as paying with ‌Apple Pay‌.

PayPal says it will launch its first contactless mobile wallet "in the coming weeks," and Germany will be its first test market. Using the latest version of the PayPal app on an iPhone, PayPal customers will be able make in-store purchases with PayPal wherever contactless Mastercard payments are accepted.

To lure customers to use PayPal over ‌Apple Pay‌, PayPal is offering cashback offers in the PayPal app and will eventually support a pay over time feature with options for six, 12, and 24 monthly installments for purchases.

NFC access is available for banking and wallet apps in the European Economic Area, which includes the 27 European Union countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway.

Tags: NFC, PayPal

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Top Rated Comments

dontwalkhand Avatar
dontwalkhand
14 months ago
If there is any company I trust the least right now, it would be PayPal.
Score: 31 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TechWhisperer Avatar
TechWhisperer
14 months ago
Great news! More choice and freedom for consumers in the European Union. In advance, those who downvote me clearly dislike freedom of choice. LOL.
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sw1tcher Avatar
sw1tcher
14 months ago

If there is any company I trust the least right now, it would be PayPal.
Mark Zuckerberg must be so happy to know that someone trusts him and his companies more than they do PayPal.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
M
munpip214
14 months ago
I’m guessing once this is all set up, PayPal cards will drop support for Apple Pay. For them, it will be fine, but if Apple tried to do that, it would be “anti-competitive” and they would get sued hundreds of millions of dollars.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
C
cupcakes2000
14 months ago

If there is any company I trust the least right now, it would be PayPal.
Great. Don’t use their services then. Stick with Apple, or wait for a better option for you. Nothings changed except now there exists a choice. The fact you can now do this is much more the point, rather than be forced to only be able to use Apple.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
klasma Avatar
klasma
14 months ago

Anyone that uses Apple’s Wallet can use as many different payment options as they like, even from companies that compete against each other. Anyone that uses PayPal’s will be able to pay via PayPal…
I don’t see how PayPal offers less choice than Apple Wallet here. You can register any number of credit cards and bank accounts with PayPal, just as with Apple Wallet. PayPal is “only” an intermediary for those, similar to Apple Pay. PayPal lets you choose which payment method to use on every transaction, like Apple Pay does.

PayPal is pretty big in Europe, Apple Pay less so.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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