UK-based digital wallet provider Curve has released Curve Pay for iOS users, leveraging the iPhone’s NFC interface recently made accessible due to the European Commission’s ruling on competition.
The move positions Curve Pay as a competitor to Apple Pay, which has previously dominated the iPhone digital payment space.
Until now, iPhone users have been locked into Apple Pay, with no way for banks or wallet providers to “compete on experience, insight, or economics. Curve Pay ends that monopoly.”
As a staged wallet with built-in smart features — including “real-time spending insights, the ability to switch payment sources post-transaction, and rewards stacking — Curve Pay gives iOS users more functionality than ever before.”
Curve Pay aims to offer more than the traditional tap-to-pay function and as a staged wallet features include real-time spending insights, post-transaction source switching, and rewards accumulation.
Besides, Curve’s architecture allows it to insert itself within the payment process, enabling additional services such as changing the payment card used after a transaction, splitting payments, earning cashback, and real-time spending tracking.
Curve Pay also facilitates payments from accounts like PayPal through its app.
With a user base exceeding six million and established partnerships with entities such as Samsung and PayPal, Curve has been promoting alternatives to conventional payment systems.
Currently, Curve Pay is available to iOS users in Europe.
Curve CEO and founder Shachar Bialick said:
“Now with Apple’s hands forced to open to competition, Curve Pay ushers in a new era of choice for iOS consumers. Curve Pay empowers users to see and spend their money differently and opens a gateway to more intelligent spending.
“We are the first in the European Economic Area to give iOS users a choice which previously did not exist. With Curve Pay also recently going live on Android, we are bringing universal access to all Curve users, regardless of device — so everyone can now manage their money, on any phone, with all the unique Curve benefits that comes with it.”
