Android and Apple Pay in Australia

[AUSCreeperCo]

Android Pay and Apple Pay has been operating in Australia for a couple months now, and here is my thoughts on using the services. For the past couple of months, I have been using Android Pay since I own an OPPO Find 7 which is NFC enabled; I don't own an iPhone however, it is generally the same concept.

 

Banks:

Android Pay supports ANZ (Australian New Zealand Banking Group) - the 4th biggest bank in Australia, American Express and a handful of smaller financial institutions, and credit unions with support for Westpac coming soon. Apple Pay on the other hand supports ANZ and American Express.
**At the moment, Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), Westpac and National Bank of Australia (NAB) - the other 3 biggest banks in Australia - launched a cartel to the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) for not giving access to the NFC access on the iPhone, which would enable contactless payments to be made through their own digital wallets. Reason is that the banks do not want to forfeit the millions of dollars per year they would have earned from Apple Pay through interchange fees. A draft decision on the case will be made in October 2016.

 

APPLE PAY:

ANDROID PAY:

 

Stores:

Unlike the other countries, where it is a hit or miss adventure trying to figure out what store accepts Apple or Android Pay, around 90% of stores in Australia accepts 'tap and go' technology. According to ANZ, before to Android and Apple Pay, around 60% of their customers uses tap and go technology on their cards, and Australia is one of the first countries to use this kind of technologies.

This means, that if you are buying groceries from Coles or Woolworths, buying food from Macca's (McDonald's, KFC, Subway, Red Rooster, Hungry Jacks, Nandos, or other resturant, buying office supplies from Officeworks, buying stuff from department stores such as Target, Big W, Kmart, Myer or David Jones, buying electronics and phones from Harvey Norman, JB Hi-Fi, The Good Guys, filling up your car at the service station at Woolworths Caltex or Coles Shell or purchasing phones or recharge credit from Telstra, Optus or Vodafone, you will be assured that Apple Pay or Android Pay will definitely work, 100% of the time, with no issues.

All the stores that I have visited supported Apple Pay or Android Pay with no problems, and the payment goes through with no issues and no hassles. And the list above is all the major stores and eateries in Australia. Many medium and smaller stores also accepts these types of mobile payments - with the smaller stores, just make sure if they have tap and go enabled terminal so you can use Apple or Android Pay.

 

Devices:

Apple Pay is supported on iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6S, 6S Plus, SE, 7 and 7 Plus, running on the latest version of iOS.   

Android Pay is supported on any NFC Phone, running Android 4.4 or above, and the device is NOT rooted.

 

 

Final Thoughts:

There is a lot of promise for the two mobile payment systems, and within Australia, payments has become easier and quicker - no need for finding your credit or debit card in your wallet blackhole. Hopefully in the near future, both mobile payment systems will add support for transport system, replacing gocard for Brisbane and surrounds, Opal Card for Sydney or Minki Cards for Melbourne where it is only a tap and go on your phone, no need digging around finding the card. My experience with it so far is excellent as it provides a safe and secure way of purchasing goods and services.

 

If you have any questions, or need clarification, comment below

 

[Blake]

10 hours ago, AUSCreeperCo said:

90% of stores in Australia accepts 'tap and go' technology. According to ANZ, before to Android and Apple Pay, around 60% of their customers uses tap and go technology on their cards, and Australia is one of the first countries to use this kind of technologies.

 

I'd say it is more like 99%. went a few hours west to the middle of no-where, pulled into a servo, town had maybe the servo and a house across the road. still had tap & go....

 

not even on a major highway...

 

I'd also say, a lot more customers use tap and go, Heck when the eftpos terminal is acting up I have to think for a solid 30-60 seconds to even remember my pin.

[AUSCreeperCo]

5 hours ago, Blake said:

I'd say it is more like 99%. went a few hours west to the middle of no-where, pulled into a servo, town had maybe the servo and a house across the road. still had tap & go....

 

not even on a major highway...

 

I'd also say, a lot more customers use tap and go, Heck when the eftpos terminal is acting up I have to think for a solid 30-60 seconds to even remember my pin.

I was in Inala, Brisbane today, and most of the shops there does not support Eftpos or Card at all. Mainly because it is small Asian shops. Probably depends on the location.

[Technous285]

6 hours ago, AUSCreeperCo said:

I was in Inala, Brisbane today, and most of the shops there does not support Eftpos or Card at all. Mainly because it is small Asian shops. Probably depends on the location.

Down around like Lockhart and Urana in the Riverina (300-800 pop), most shops that do have EFTPOS still have the slightly older Swipe+Pin/Chip+Pin terminals, none of the Touch-n-Go terminals.

It's still common to see folks using regular cash instead of card, like when snagging food at the local chippy, or a coupla items at the IGA grocer.