NAB makes play for digital wallets

National Australia Bank will soon announce the next stage of the digital wallet market by launching an Android Pay service.

NAB is said to be close to quitting the consortium of banks that unsuccessfully pitched to the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission to collectively negotiate with Apple, forcing the tech giant to open up the iPhone’s near-field communication antenna to their own digital wallets.

With the competition watchdog having determined that collective negotiations were likely to reduce or distort competition, the suggestion is that NAB, like ANZ, is ready to go its own way and do a deal with Apple.

The truth is that NAB is edging closer to an agreement involving Google’s Android phones. Android, leader of the local handset market, has a 50 per cent share. Apple has about 40 per cent.

NAB’s looming rollout of Android Pay follows developments last week concerning access to the iPhone’s NFC antenna at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference. The keynote for the conference showed an Apple Watch synching data with gym equipment to demonstrate some of the features coming in the new version of the device.

Also, a developer document emerged that confirmed iOS11, Apple’s next generation mobile operating system to be launched later this year, would enable developers to create apps that make use of the iPhone’s NFC chip.

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Source: NAB makes play for digital wallets – The Australian