Apple Enters Mobile-Payments Market in Cash-Loving Germany
December 11 2018 - 8:30AM
Dow Jones News
By Max Bernhard
Apple Inc. (AAPL) has launched its mobile-payment service in
Germany, battling Google for business in the notoriously
cash-loving nation.
Customers in Germany will be able to use their Apple phones,
laptops and watches to pay at "hundreds of thousands of sites" in
Germany, including for Bayern Munich FC tickets and public
transport in Berlin, the company said Tuesday.
With the move, Apple becomes the second major entrant to the
narrow German mobile-payments market, following Alphabet Inc's
(GOOGL) Google Pay in June this year.
Apple Pay is already available in 26 markets around the globe,
and some have explained its late entry to Germany as symptomatic of
the country's disdain for credit cards.
According to Germany's central bank, Germans still made 74% of
transactions in cash last year. Only 2.2 million people in Germany
are forecast to use mobile-payment options in Germany this year,
according to Statista. This compares to a forecast of about 60.1
million users in the U.S. and 348.9 million in China.
The average transaction volume per user for 2018 is expected to
come in at a meager 80 euros ($91.19) in Germany, compared with
EUR1,838 in the U.S. and EUR514 in China, according to
Statista.
To use the Apply Pay service, users upload their credit or debit
card to their Apple device by scanning an image of it. They can
then pay at the checkout line by holding the device above a payment
terminal, transmitting their card's information via a technology
known as near-field communication.
Apple said its German clients will be able to use their cards
from providers including American Express CO (AXP), Deutsche Bank
AG (DBK.XE) and Wirecard AG's (WDI.XE) virtual credit-card app
boon.
Write to Max Bernhard at max.bernhard@dowjones.com;
@mxbernhard
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 11, 2018 08:15 ET (13:15 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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