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Comment by n_ary | Hacker News Reader

Not sure about US, here in Germany, I really love the tap-pay(NFC based) usually everywhere(except some random kebab shops). It simply works regardless of me having an Android/iPhone or simply just a the nfc enabled card.

I don’t need to open another account, fumble with one-more-app or anything. Also apple-pay appears to mask my CC/DC number as well, so better safety.

I want it everywhere badly in west as well as east and middle(-east).

I am familiar with UPI and few similar things in other neighbouring countries(looks like every SEA country has its own entirely different version of it and some country has almost 4-6 competing copy-cats!).

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I’m sure your nfc card/phone works great in Germany but it’s worth noting that part of the reason is that your card is likely Mastercard/visa. Here in the Netherlands tap and pay is also seamless with maestro cards… but the moment you try to use it internationally, POS machines reject it (“out of network” or something). If you have a diner’s card or an American Express card you might notice how many terminals/pos’es reject those as well.

I think this only holds if you definition of “internationally” resembles “outside the EU”.

netherlands has always been an outlier when it comes to card payments.

With regards to maestro, yes sure, but I think diner’s etc (aka anything non visa/Mastercard) have issues internationally.

diner’s maybe. but i never had a problem with my mastercard or visa. even my amex is widely supported.

That is interesting, I haven’t had the same experience with Amex. Possibly Germany supports it better on average.

> I want it everywhere badly in west as well as east and middle(-east).

It's already there.

With the exception of the US, almost every country I've traveled to in the Middle East, Asia, and Europe has tap-pay enabled. The Middle East has virtually everyone paying with their phones via NFC. In India Apple Pay doesn't work but when I travel there I can use my phone every time. NFC cards are also the norm.

We opted fo chip-and-sign over chip-and-pin, so it's probably safe to assume that everything we do is a touch less smooth and safe.

Then again, we don't really the regulation framework for making me feel like cell phones are a safe way to move money around. (Because I have trust issues with tech.)

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