LINE Pay said years ago they would add NFC/FeliCa support if customers wanted it. Now that Apple Pay is gaining QR Code Payment support in iOS 14, LINE Pay announced Apple Pay support ‘in 2020‘ at the online LINE DAY 2020 (2:34:00 mark) media event today. The announcement has special meaning as LINE is the first QR Code payment player to announce Apple Pay support and did so before AliPay.
The timing makes sense now that iOS 14 is nearing official release, but Apple has not officially announced Apple Pay Code Payments yet though they may reveal something at the online September 15 Apple Event. Things will be damn awkward if they don’t.
There are lots of questions: will LINE Pay Apple Pay be a NFC/FeliCa + QR Code Payment in one Wallet ‘card’, or will it be the Apple Pay flavor of the Line Pay JCB prepaid card already on Google Pay that works on the FeliCa QUICPay network.
LINE Pay implied the intention of leveraging both NFC and Apple Pay QR Code Payments but there isn’t much to go by at this point, except that LINE said Apple Pay will ‘complete the LINE PAY contactless payment platform.’ Whatever that means.
Now that LINE has made their Apple Pay move, PayPay is sure to follow at some point. The trend to offer flexible NFC + QR payment solutions started with Toyota Wallet and will gain momentum with iOS 14 Apple Pay, especially with App Clips.
UPDATE 12/22/2020
Line Pay and SMBC announced the VISA Prepaid Line Pay card for Google Pay and Apple Pay. It’s basically a replacement for the JCB Prepaid card that will be phased out along with plastic issue cards sold in convenience stores. The instant issue VISA Prepaid Line Pay card works on iD and EMV contactless payments networks with Google Pay but is limited to iD on Apple Pay due to the long running Apple/VISA Japan feud that may, or may not be, thawing soon. Nobu Ringo has posted his usual into video.
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