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As a counter point, I have seen technology adopted in the EU in ways that the US has lagged far, far behind. Probably the best example of this is chip & PIN for

As a counter point, I have seen technology adopted in the EU in ways that the US has lagged far, far behind. Probably the best example of this is chip & PIN for credit cards. In the US we finally have chips, but still no PIN.

this_user 6y ago
That is more the exception than the rule, though, even in the payment space. Here is a more typical example: A few years ago German banks realised that PayPal was eating their lunch, so they decided to start their own payment processor called "PayDirekt". In typical German fashion it was not only 15 years late, but also overly bureaucratic. As merchant you have to sign individual contracts with each bank whose cards you would like to accept. Naturally, it has largely failed to gain traction despite extensive marketing to end users. Another more recent example was Apple Pay launching in Germany. The German banks thought they could do their own mobile payment apps instead rather than work with Apple. Once again, it failed, and now, tail between their legs, they have begun signing up with Cupertino after they started losing customers to mobile-first banks like N26 who supported Apple Pay all along.
mandevil 6y ago
Isn't that because credit cards came later to the EU, so they had better standards because they didn't have to worry about supporting huge quantities of obsolete technology? I don't know the exact details on credit cards, but I know that's true for CDMA vs. GSM and NTSC vs PAL. In the US there were so many black and white TV's already out there that they couldn't abandon them, hence NTSC (which allowed the older black and white TV's to just read the Red channel). In Europe, with out those huge numbers of already existing TVs to support, they could go straight to a clearly better standard, PAL. This is a common problem, see _The Innovators Dilemma_ by Clayton Christensen.
- ripdog 6y ago
  >Isn't that because credit cards came later to the EU, so they had better standards because they didn't have to worry about supporting huge quantities of obsolete technology? In New Zealand, credit card machines are basically required to be replaced every few years as security standards improve. Is this not the case in USA?
  - tyoma 6y ago
    In the US merchants own their own machines and the banks have to strongarm them into getting new ones. This is one of the reasons some places still require a swipe to pay.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- ketzu 6y ago
  As far as I know, the tech of credit cards is also borne from liability regulation. The higher security of the european system allowed the european banks to move liability to the users.
- amaccuish 6y ago
  Credit cards are much less used in Europe. France pioneered chip cards with the Carte Bancaire.
- LargoLasskhyfv 6y ago
  Ahem. No. At the end of the day PAL worked the same way. I know because we had a small black & white TV-Set when i was very little. And been mostly disinterested in it, because playing in the surrounding forests with my friends was more exiting, even for them, who already had colour TV.
- giantrobot 6y ago
  Pedantic note on NTSC: the signal has a luma (brightness) and chroma (color) component. The NTSC standard had a place for chroma information from the get-go but it was unused for a long time. Color cameras were expensive, storage more complex, and the televisions themselves more complex and expensive. As technology improved it became more practical and broadcasters started doing color broadcasts. Old black and white televisions worked as before but then new color ones...had color. Huzzah for forward thinking specifications. Black and white televisions just displayed the luma component of the signal. The luma component was not just the "red" signal but a measure of total brightness.
anewdirection 6y ago
Chip and pin hs been broken for 20 years, its security theatre.
- yohannparis 6y ago
  Still far better than swipe and sign.
  - 4636760295 6y ago
    Or "enter these magic numbers, get money" which is how much of the US operates.

this_user 6y ago

That is more the exception than the rule, though, even in the payment space. Here is a more typical example: A few years ago German banks realised that PayPal was eating their lunch, so they decided to start their own payment processor called "PayDirekt". In typical German fashion it was not only 15 years late, but also overly bureaucratic. As merchant you have to sign individual contracts with each bank whose cards you would like to accept. Naturally, it has largely failed to gain traction despite extensive marketing to end users. Another more recent example was Apple Pay launching in Germany. The German banks thought they could do their own mobile payment apps instead rather than work with Apple. Once again, it failed, and now, tail between their legs, they have begun signing up with Cupertino after they started losing customers to mobile-first banks like N26 who supported Apple Pay all along.

mandevil 6y ago

Isn't that because credit cards came later to the EU, so they had better standards because they didn't have to worry about supporting huge quantities of obsolete technology? I don't know the exact details on credit cards, but I know that's true for CDMA vs. GSM and NTSC vs PAL. In the US there were so many black and white TV's already out there that they couldn't abandon them, hence NTSC (which allowed the older black and white TV's to just read the Red channel). In Europe, with out those huge numbers of already existing TVs to support, they could go straight to a clearly better standard, PAL. This is a common problem, see _The Innovators Dilemma_ by Clayton Christensen.

ripdog 6y ago
>Isn't that because credit cards came later to the EU, so they had better standards because they didn't have to worry about supporting huge quantities of obsolete technology? In New Zealand, credit card machines are basically required to be replaced every few years as security standards improve. Is this not the case in USA?
- tyoma 6y ago
  In the US merchants own their own machines and the banks have to strongarm them into getting new ones. This is one of the reasons some places still require a swipe to pay.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
ketzu 6y ago
As far as I know, the tech of credit cards is also borne from liability regulation. The higher security of the european system allowed the european banks to move liability to the users.
amaccuish 6y ago
Credit cards are much less used in Europe. France pioneered chip cards with the Carte Bancaire.
LargoLasskhyfv 6y ago
Ahem. No. At the end of the day PAL worked the same way. I know because we had a small black & white TV-Set when i was very little. And been mostly disinterested in it, because playing in the surrounding forests with my friends was more exiting, even for them, who already had colour TV.
giantrobot 6y ago
Pedantic note on NTSC: the signal has a luma (brightness) and chroma (color) component. The NTSC standard had a place for chroma information from the get-go but it was unused for a long time. Color cameras were expensive, storage more complex, and the televisions themselves more complex and expensive. As technology improved it became more practical and broadcasters started doing color broadcasts. Old black and white televisions worked as before but then new color ones...had color. Huzzah for forward thinking specifications. Black and white televisions just displayed the luma component of the signal. The luma component was not just the "red" signal but a measure of total brightness.

anewdirection 6y ago

Chip and pin hs been broken for 20 years, its security theatre.

yohannparis 6y ago
Still far better than swipe and sign.
- 4636760295 6y ago
  Or "enter these magic numbers, get money" which is how much of the US operates.