Lidl Introduces the European Payment Method Wero in Germany(unternehmen.lidl.de) |
Lidl Introduces the European Payment Method Wero in Germany(unternehmen.lidl.de) |
I also have a shared account in Germany, but paying with that doesn't work either. It shows an info page about what Wero is supposed to be, not a payment page. The page says I need to make a Google account and buy a compatible phone to download their software and try again
This is advertised as a replacement for iDeal, a Dutch system created by a collaboration of banks in 2005. It worked very simple on any device: (1) click pay, (2) select your bank, (3) you're redirected to your bank's website and use your normal online banking method to authenticate the transaction (chip+pin with an authenticator, the mobile app, whatever your bank offers), (4) the website redirects you back to the merchant
Wero seems to be like a payment request, except it hides the target IBAN and requires an app and only allows certain banks from a few countries (not EU-wide). What a leap forward from iDeal that just always worked in any browser and bank when the payment provider supports it
Except you don't have a choice. It's not like iDeal where you can just use your bank's regular login method to pay; this requires making a big tech account to download some app where maybe it then works if it likes your device. IDeal always worked in a browser. Why change a running system with a less-compatible one?
Nobody from any tech media seems to be pointing out the Google/Apple smartphone dependency, let alone ask anyone at EPI about it. If they do, at least they're not writing about the results.
The only article I know of that ever asked the question is actually from the press of the German government: https://www.das-parlament.de/wirtschaft/finanzen/wir-bauen-m...
"What about smartphones that run on free and open-source software instead of the commercial operating systems used by the iPhone or Google?
Tanja Müller-Ziegler: This market is still very much a niche one. There are still too few providers, which is why it’s hardly worth offering banking apps for these devices."
Other than that I have seen ZERO pressure on this point from the media.
Obviously I do think EPI should intrinsically care, but I also am starting to see more and more that from their point of view literally nobody cares, so why should they?
If Wero is executed well, I'll use it for sure in the meantime.
Did you make this up or is there some official document promising that?
It honestly sounds like too good to be true.
https://www.cnil.fr/en/confidentiality-digital-euro-where-ar... - talks about the offline mode "favoured by many stakeholders".