N/M theory thwarted
Nothing in Canberra for Woolworths that I can see but did see Coles in Manuka had the logo.
Obviously not worthy of a hyperlink
Oh good, I’m not the only one that annoyed 
Fascinating!
http://www.macworld.com.au/news/is-apple-pay-coming-to-australia-soon-140424/#.Vi370BArLMU
The thing is, in Australia we can already accept ApplePay transactions on our terminals.
What we have here, is the issuing side and the acquiring side being one and the same.
So this means that they have everything to gain, and very little to lose. Woolies and Coles enjoy the interchange they receive today, however the data on where and when people shop is of more value. It’ll give a run to the other issuers - the banks - who rely on the interchange and don’t really get as much value from the data.
Relevant? Neatly sidesteps the banks needing to support it…
Well, that didn’t take long. It’s coming… But only for American Express.
Do Coles and Woolies even take Amex?
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Who uses American Express? Most places don’t accept it and when they do you get stung a big surcharge.
Hopefully this means the banks will jump on board soon
Yes, Coles and Woolworths take American Express and without surcharge. I’m primarily an Amex user and it gives me significant benefits with the frequent flyer points I acrue.
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As @Steeley says, yep Coles and Woolies take Amex with no charge. It’s primarily where I use mine (in addition to Shell petrol stations). This is great - one less card to carry in my wallet! (I carry the Amex solely for points at those places that don’t charge a fee). Can’t wait until I don’t need the other 2 cards I carry every day too! 
I also linked mine to PayPal and with that I pay my phone, gas and electricity bills without surcharge, and I also run all my subscriptions through it with no surcharge. They’re pretty much accepted at all big brand shops without charge, so it covers me for about 90% of my spending (including my hairdresser). The one exception I found was JB Hifi, but I don’t shop there anymore for several reasons, none of them being a surcharge on Amex.
Nice idea! I generally only find it’s not accepted in cafés etc. I have a separate (business) card that I use for all work purchases - and they are generally at IT suppliers or palaces that do charge a surcharge. But I should totally get an Amex companion card for that card now that I won’t need to actually carry it!
Fingers crossed that bank issued “mirror” Amex cards are included in this!! It’s not out of the realm of possibility that they are, as Amex is still the clearing house for them…
Ugh! I’m a lowly IT worker with poor personal financial management (I’m working on it though). I’m not getting an AMEX just for that!
The wording around “eligible” Amex card holders is interesting - hopefully corporate cards won’t be excluded.
Hmm, yes lots of places accept Amex, but do they accept it via contactless?
I reckon it’ll mean cards issued directly from Amex will be supported, but bank issued cards might not be, at least at the start.
It depends on the merchant. All but one place I use accepts Amex via tap and go. When I use tap and go at my hairdresser it requires me to insert the card. But if they’re launching Apple Pay maybe they’ll upgrade things so it works everywhere.
I guess with both questions - time will tell
@Steeley your point about bank issued cards not initially working would gel with the earlier reports of the local banks not liking the cut of the transaction that Apple wanted
i.e., going direct to Amex is a good way to bypass them. Then once Apple Pay is launched, consumers will put pressure on the banks to support Apple Pay, as was seen with Barclays in the UK, which was an initial hold out.
It’s only for cards directly issued by Amex, not ones you can get via banks (annoying… I have one via CBA, who obviously suck). I might apply for the cheapest nastiest Amex just so I can use Apple Pay with it, assuming other banks don’t come on board.