Apple Enters Mobile-Payments Market in Cash-Loving Germany

   By Max Bernhard 
 

Apple Inc. (AAPL) has launched its mobile-payment service in Germany, battling Google for business in the notoriously cash-loving nation.

Customers in Germany will be able to use their Apple phones, laptops and watches to pay at "hundreds of thousands of sites" in Germany, including for Bayern Munich FC tickets and public transport in Berlin, the company said Tuesday.

With the move, Apple becomes the second major entrant to the narrow German mobile-payments market, following Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL) Google Pay in June this year.

Apple Pay is already available in 26 markets around the globe, and some have explained its late entry to Germany as symptomatic of the country's disdain for credit cards.

According to Germany's central bank, Germans still made 74% of transactions in cash last year. Only 2.2 million people in Germany are forecast to use mobile-payment options in Germany this year, according to Statista. This compares to a forecast of about 60.1 million users in the U.S. and 348.9 million in China.

The average transaction volume per user for 2018 is expected to come in at a meager 80 euros ($91.19) in Germany, compared with EUR1,838 in the U.S. and EUR514 in China, according to Statista.

To use the Apply Pay service, users upload their credit or debit card to their Apple device by scanning an image of it. They can then pay at the checkout line by holding the device above a payment terminal, transmitting their card's information via a technology known as near-field communication.

Apple said its German clients will be able to use their cards from providers including American Express CO (AXP), Deutsche Bank AG (DBK.XE) and Wirecard AG's (WDI.XE) virtual credit-card app boon.

Write to Max Bernhard at [e-mail]; @mxbernhard

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 11, 2018 08:15 ET (13:15 GMT)

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