How the first European analogue of Apple Pay works
The Norwegian company Vipps has launched the first analogue of Apple Pay. The service lets you pay for purchases with your iPhone. The launch of the new product is possible thanks to an agreement between Apple and the European Commission. People know European legislation for its strict requirements for technology giants. The EU government is trying to break the market monopoly created by the world’s biggest developers.
To this end, the European Commission, which controls the work of NFC technology, has reached an agreement with the American manufacturer. The issue is the possibility of using a third-party service on its mobile devices. Under pressure from the EU authorities, Apple authorised contactless payments and gave access to its technology. The Norwegian company Vipps jumped at the chance. Vipps develops mobile payment solutions. Now, their product tap with Vipps, which is a full analogue of Apple Pay, is available on Apple smartphones.
Features of the service
The debit network BankAxep developed the payment solution, which is supported by financial services provider Thales. So far, tap with Vipps is available to customers of 40 European banks, including SpareBank 1 and DNB. The developer promises to expand the list of partners, which will increase the number of service users. It is worth noting that the product can currently be installed on smartphones in Norway.
The functionality of tap with Vipps makes it possible to:
– pay for purchases in shops;
– make online payments;
– transfer money, including internationally;
– pay for services from various providers;
– make collections for multiple purposes;
– send cash gifts.
According to Vipps CEO Rune Garborg, it is much more convenient for Norwegian users to carry out transactions in one application. The service eliminates the need for a plastic card, doing all the work for you.
Vipps is available at all of BankAxept’s partner terminals. The company promises that the service will soon be compatible with terminals that support Visa and Mastercard. This will allow customers to pay for purchases with Vipps outside Norway. The developer is working on expanding the solution’s capabilities, so they will not know the exact date.
The appearance of an Apple Pay analogue was the first step towards diversity. Until now, only the US giant’s service has been available for NFC payments via iPhone. In the near future, however, alternative solutions will appear in the EU, giving consumers a choice they have been denied. It remains to be seen how popular other services will be among owners of Apple’s mobile devices.
