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Most of you will remember Sparkasse's claim against Apple - but the financial institution no longer seems to be interested in it.
It was a warm summer day in August 2018 – well, let's leave it at that. On August 1, 2018, the Sparkasse caused a big discussion via Twitter with the following statement:
Savings banks offer their customers a system for mobile payments that is open to both Android devices and iPhones. It is up to Apple to release the corresponding NFC interface so that all customers can use this technical market standard in the same way.
Finally, the savings bank made the opening of the NFC interface in the iPhone a prerequisite for the introduction of Apple Pay. One would not work without the other. The reason was the fees - the savings bank also wanted a piece of the pie. In another statement at the end of 2018, the umbrella organization announced:
In order not to slow down the further development of mobile payment solutions in this country, Apple should open up the industry standard NFC on its devices under reasonable conditions not only for its own solution but also for third parties.
But at some point the traditional bank had to give in – too many customers were annoyed by this attitude. Finally, on December 10th Apple Pay was officially introduced for Sparkasse customers in 2019 – but what happened to the desire to also offer its own solution?
Despite the law, no longer interested
By the way, it should not go unmentioned that according to various reports, Sparkasse has had a better Apple Pay launch than some other banks. But let's get back to the main point. In December, a Law passed that was supposed to force Apple to open the NFC chip in the iPhone. At the very latest, this would get the Sparkasse what it wants, right? But that no longer seems to be the case. As Finance Forward reports, to date – although the law came into force on January 1, 2020 – no application has been made to open the NFC interface. A spokesperson for the German Savings Banks Association told Finance Forward responded as follows:
I have no information that such an application has been made, nor am I aware of any plans to do so.
Now it's Amazon and Google's turn
Hardly anyone in Apple Pay Germany expected this answer. But where does this sudden change in strategy come from? Nobody knows yet. According to its own statements, Sparkasse has now achieved its goal of enabling all customers to pay mobile with the introduction of Apple Pay. However, the umbrella organization has a new goal. The financial institution wants to gain access to Amazon and Google's voice assistants in order to enable its own customers to carry out transactions in a new way. Accordingly, other tech giants will now have to deal with Sparkasse. (Image: German Savings Banks and Giro Association)
- Apple Pay Germany: Sparkasse Girocard support in the works
- Apple Pay: Why Apple won't open the iPhone NFC chip
