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I understand that Apple Pay is not supported in India right now.

But my question is that is it still possible to buy a payment terminal machine (from link 1) and :

  1. Use it in VAS terminal mode (see DETAILS) so as to only accept NFC enabled Reward pass and not card based payments(as card based Apple payment is not supported in India). NFC based Reward passes are stored in your Wallet App.

The actual use case would be:

  1. I received a NFC enabled Reward Pass from a link and I added it to my Wallet App.
  2. I went to shopping and I found a payment machine which process Apple NFC enabled reward passes. (Is this point possible in India??)
  3. Once I go near to payment machine, I get a popup to redeem points from my reward pass and payment processed successfully.

So is above mentioned points valid for locations where Apple pay is not available??

DETAILS: The value added service (VAS) protocol was designed by Apple to facilitate reward transaction via NFC between Apple devices and your NFC-enabled payment terminals.

Link - 1 https://www.apple.com/shop/product/HJG42LL/A/groovv-terminal-one-for-emv-nfc-credit-card-processing?fnode=23b4a7a08c47611ff86f9981ac0098a185f7e6472777fa7b19d5eafc4dc8d6a600744123b6171a9a429fc1270993dc691e1e83cfd59327246cdcb7b5ff4d676a65dab4b9c428b2152ce6c5556729815278037d2998fde0331cfcdd7230fcbab6e0c16a3fe76de671f2388b0af2769020​

Vineet Ravi
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  • I believe that the VAS transaction occurs as a second step after an Apple Pay transaction. The terminal you linked to is only available in the US as it works with a US bank (Wells Fargo) – Paulw11 May 17 '17 at 10:17
  • Store cards, which are NFC enable pass can be saved in Wallet App directly. – Vineet Ravi May 17 '17 at 10:18
  • Then if you can get your loyalty card into a pass then you should be able to read it, but you would need to find appropriate reader hardware; the device you linked to isn't suitable for your needs. – Paulw11 May 17 '17 at 10:24
  • The device linked may not be suitable for Banking cards stored in Wallet, and I am comfortable with that. But will it work for Reward based store cards? I mean I just want Reward based loyalty pass to work with this device. – Vineet Ravi May 17 '17 at 10:37
  • I wouldn't think so since the device firmware will be configured to communicate with the Wells Fargo system. – Paulw11 May 17 '17 at 10:38
  • Thanks Paul.. your comments were helpful.. :) – Vineet Ravi May 17 '17 at 10:39
  • Let us [continue this discussion in chat](http://chat.stackoverflow.com/rooms/144451/discussion-between-vineet-ravi-and-paulw11). – Vineet Ravi May 17 '17 at 10:43

1 Answers1

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Yes, what you describe is possible, but there are many many hurdles to overcome before it could be realised.

Firstly, you need to obtain an NFC pass type certificate. These are issued at Apple's discretion and have proven to be a little difficult to get, especially in territories where Apple Pay is not yet available.

Next, you will need a terminal that can communicate with the device using Apple's proprietary VAS protocol. Obtaining the protocol is even trickier than obtaining a certificate, but it is possible. However, the Merchant's existing NFC terminals would need to have their firmware replaced which in many cases is impractical as the hardware is often owned by the banks and may require PCI re-certification after the firmware is changed.

Alternatively, you may build your own dedicated terminal but then you may need to bear the cost of providing merchants with your hardware and they may be reluctant to have another device on their countertop and to provide staff training to be able to use it.

Finally, whatever hardware you implement will need to have an API to hook into the merchant's point of sale system (PoS), and the PoS will require a reciprocal API and functionality to conduct the loyalty transaction.

So, in summary, it is technically possible but practically close to impossible to implement without the cooperation and commitment of a major player in the retail, banking, or merchant acquiring sector.

We currently have both VAS capable hardware and access to NFC certificates but are facing the above challenges in several territories, both with and without Apple Pay.

PassKit
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  • Have you successfully acquired a NFC certificate for apps in territories without Apple Pay? I was told that it isn't possible. – Armands L. Dec 15 '17 at 06:41
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    Yes we have. It’s not impossible and you will need a strong use case. I would recommend talking directly to your Apple country representative as they may be able to support your application. – PassKit Dec 15 '17 at 06:45
  • Could you please give an example of someone using NFC pass without supporting Apple Pay? We started to build our use case real life examples would greatly benefit it. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/50620742/apple-wallet-nfc-enabled-pass-use-cases – Armands L. May 31 '18 at 09:27