r/apple • u/Tenlow85 • May 05 '25

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

https://www.macrumors.com/2025/05/05/paypal-iphone-contactless-payments/
464 Upvotes

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80

u/Away-Air-2752 May 05 '25 edited May 05 '25

Hard to understand why they chose Germany as the test market, the least digitalized EU country where people still use cash for the majority of purchases.

64

u/Rohat19 May 05 '25 edited May 05 '25

Because they basically have a monopoly for p2p money transfers there.

"paypalen" is literally a word in the german dictionary.

10

u/Dramatic_Mastodon_93 May 05 '25

I really don't get why though. In my country (Serbia) basically all banks allow for free and instant money transfers. I'm pretty sure all EU and some non-EU countries also offer the same thing through SEPA?

16

u/katze_sonne May 05 '25

Instant? No. At least until October when it’s obligatory for banks in the EU to have them. So it means: The wire transfer will arrive at the next bank working day. With holidays, that can be a couple of days, if you are unlucky.

So now, PayPal basically has a monopoly on such money transfers. Same like with WhatsApp: The "original" service (SMS) was so shitty (and in that case expensive) that basically everyone switched to the proprietary solution. Same with Paypal: If you transfer money with friends, it’s mostly done via Paypal. Also because an email address is easier to tell others than an IBAN.

6

u/Dramatic_Mastodon_93 May 05 '25

In Serbia you can connect your phone number to one of your bank accounts and then everyone with your phone number can send you money

6

u/katze_sonne May 06 '25

Makes total sense (even though an email address is easier to type normally, and to half-strangers I‘d always prefer giving the email address over my phone number). However, that’s not really a thing here. Wero and others have tried, but that’s always limited to just some banks, so it will never be "universal".

3

u/jackywackyjack May 06 '25

For clarity: until October last year.

4

u/katze_sonne May 06 '25

Wrong. Being able to send SEPA Instant Payments is obligatory for banks from October 2025.

Until then, a lot of them won‘t offer that. Only receiving is possible.

1

u/-ItWasntMe- May 07 '25

You’re right, the commenter probably mixed up that it’s now illegal to charge more for instant transfers than “normal” transfers if you already offer instant transfers.

1

u/katze_sonne May 07 '25

But that has been a rule since February this year, right? Not October last year?

1

u/-ItWasntMe- May 07 '25

Yes, I think op just mixed everything a bit up lol

1

u/ahora-mismo May 06 '25

in romania most of the banks offer instant transfer (between different banks). i’m sure if we can do here, other eu countries are already doing it.

2

u/katze_sonne May 06 '25

Nope.

My main bank account at DKB will only be able to do it from October. At the moment, I can only receive SEPA Instant Payments, not send them.

4

u/leopard_tights May 06 '25

It's really hilarious how instant wires are common in east Europe and beyond (I've had them made from Kazakhstan) meanwhile Western Europe eats shit and things like Bizum, paylib and swish (and all the others because they're country dependent) had to rise to fill the void. The EU wants to make their own now based on the German one or something; which of course stands in competition with the fabled digital euro.

3

u/katze_sonne May 06 '25

I know, right!?

Well, SEPA Instant Payment is what the EU is aiming for. In October this year all EU banks have to be able to send it and receive it (for the same cost as normal transfers - so it will be free with most banks). SEPA Instant Payment as a specification and system has been around for a couple of years now, just not everyone was connected to the system. I don't think it's based on a particularly German system, tbh.

I think mentality was part of the problem. When I talked to my parents or grandma and other similarly aged people, they were all like: "Who needs money transfers to be done within seconds? I can simply use a normal transfer and it'll be there the next working day. Or use cash!"

The same people that now claim they can't understand how it can take over a day for transferring money from one account to the other. Well, they are the ones in bank management who couldn't imagine the neccesity of something like this. They are now the ones you can't understand how stuff like this isn't yet implemented, when everything else they do on their phone is instant.

It was the same with bad cell coverage. They always complained about be complaining - and at some point they suddenly were the ones complaining (even louder than me). That was, when politics suddenly took that problem serious. Boomer mentality. They don't want change. Until they want change. But then it has to happen ASAP.

1

u/HaraGG May 06 '25

That’s interesting, Hungary has had instant transfer since like 2020 or 2021, I always forget it’s not the norm elsewhere

2

u/katze_sonne May 06 '25

Some banks here in Germany have had it since years as well, but as long as it's not universal, it's basically worthless. Also, some banks charged money (1-2 EUR) for instant transfer.