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Apple NFC-Enabled Reward Pass for India

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​

Solution

  • 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.