Wondering why you can’t use Apple Pay in Australia? According to a new report, it’s because Cupertino is fighting with our nation’s biggest banks over how much the gadget giant will earn from it.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports this morning that Australian banks like Westpac and the Commonwealth Bank are at loggerheads with Apple over how much the gadget giant will get per transaction from the contactless service.
In the US, Apple gets about 15 cents in interchange fees for every $100 it processes. In Australia, Apple reportedly wants a similar amount, which would cost the banks a pretty penny every year. The negotiations are ongoing, and banks aren’t prepared to comment on the negotiations, hiding behind carefully crafted statements telling us we’ve been able to pay for stuff with our phones for years.
It’s a familiar story, to be perfectly honest. Last year when Apple Pay was first minted by Cupertino, stores around the US were suddenly “unable” to take NFC payments. That was followed by a lengthy process to install a very bad, no good “contactless” payment system set up by major US retailers. It involves QR codes, and is a Bad Thing.
The war over Apple Pay just went global. [SMH]