From Vision to Reality: How Design Helped Vipps MobilePay Launch the World’s First Tap-to-Pay Wallet, Challenging Apple Pay
I still have to pinch myself after we released the world’s first alternative to Apple Pay on the iPhone on the 9th of December. How could a small fintech company in the Nordics beat everyone to the finish line?
Love this quote from The Verge:
Either way, it’s going to be a big deal, and the first step forward into that new era comes from a small financial organization in Scandinavia.
This made me reflect on how we managed to achieve this so quickly. I’d like to take this opportunity to share some insights into the process and how design played a key role in enabling us to move quickly and collaborate effectively across companies, partners, countries, product teams, and stakeholders.
Back to the Beginning of 2024
In January, news broke that Apple might open its NFC payment technology to third-party developers in Europe as part of its efforts to address antitrust charges levied by the European Commission. This was a huge signal for us, and we immediately understood that 2024 would not be a year like any other. We needed a plan, as we were just on the brink of finishing the merger of Vipps and MobilePay into one app. (Read more about our previous redesign here) This merger was another record-breaking achievement, combining the largest payment apps in Denmark, Finland, and Norway into one common platform based on the Vipps app — in just one year. No one thought it would be possible.
In this process, design played a crucial role in leading the way and demonstrating how we could work as one team across Vipps and MobilePay, laying the groundwork for how all teams should integrate into this new platform. Teams needed to see how it would look and work before they could begin their tasks.
Based on this experience, we understood what Apple’s signal meant. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our company to unlock a new market position. However, this required significant and foundational changes to our app’s information architecture, ensuring it could support the flexibility and scale needed for this ambitious initiative. To achieve the fastest possible time to market, design needed to streamline the process and be ahead. With several large strategic initiatives running in parallel, we needed a plan to get the entire company onboard in record time before Apple shared the technical details about the implementation on March 7.
A New Wallet App Strategy – A Record-Breaking Plan
We made a plan to land everything in seven weeks. This included securing buy-in from top management on the new Wallet App Strategy and getting company-wide support from product departments across Denmark, Finland, and Norway. Again, no one believed it could be done, but there wasn’t time for doubt. Our previous experience with the merger process had taught us how the power of visualization can bridge the gap between abstract strategy and market dynamics. It transforms these concepts into an engaging and concrete North Star visualization that helps teams understand their place in the larger picture and aligns them toward a common direction, ultimately enabling faster time to market.
To ensure a quick process, we kept the Core Team as small as possible. It included a PM and a designer from each of the three product departments, ensuring deep knowledge of their needs and the capacity to drive the process and deliver what was required along the way. We also established a Key Enabling Roles support team, which included iOS and Android developers, architects, payment specialists, marketing experts, and local market specialists. This group was briefed weekly in a 30-minute meeting and was responsible for flagging issues and sharing updates with their teams.
Cross Company Workshops to Align and Inspire
To involve all product teams and gather input for the year’s plans, we organized two rounds of workshops:
- Setting the Stage Workshops: These helped teams understand the 2024 landscape, including Apple’s NFC decision and our other strategic initiatives. A key takeaway was that moving fast was essential, and no one would be 100% satisfied. Instead, we could achieve remarkable outcomes by working together.
- North Star Visualization Workshops: Using insights from the first workshops, we developed a North Star visualization of how our app could look within a year. This exercise made plans concrete, aligned teams on goals, and identified potential red flags.
To emphasize the importance of this effort, my product partner and I, both deeply invested in the core app’s success, flew to our Oslo, Aarhus, and Helsinki offices to host workshops in person, underlining the critical nature of this initiative. We were nervous going into the workshops. This was a huge group of highly skilled people with big ambitions, all busy launching our new payment app across the Nordics after an intense year of work. How would they react? Would they have time to care?
Our fears quickly disappeared as we started. The workshops were engaging and impactful. The groundwork done by the Core Team and Key Enabling Roles group had really paid off. Participants could see that we cared, understood the impact, and considered the consequences. Being there in person built trust and created a sense of shared purpose. We learned a lot, very quickly. It was amazing.
Delivering the World’s First Tap to Pay Wallet
In seven weeks, we secured the necessary buy-in and finalized the concept — all while launching our new app platform in Finland in January and Denmark on March 12, just before Apple’s NFC solution became available on March 7. Then came the complex technical implementations needed to make this work inside Vipps MobilePay and with our partners, but that’s a story for someone more technically minded to tell. Everything was a blur until, on December 9, we became the worlds first wallet app to challenge Apple Pay on the iPhone.
This achievement reflects incredible cross functional teamwork across departments, countries, and roles. Design acted as a bridge, enabling quick, effective collaboration on a tight deadline and solving real user and merchant needs. Early visualizations allowed us to conduct user research across all markets, uncover critical insights, and guide future initiatives. This proactive approach has kept us ahead and ensured all elements fit into our Wallet App Strategy as we learn and iterate on our solution. This ensured that the teams kept the needs of our users at the forefront while working on a tight deadline. Without this focus, there was a risk of prioritizing a solution that worked for the company’s immediate goals but fell short of meeting end-user expectations. The incredible response and user adoption from day one tells us that this work has payed off.
By working together, we’ve delivered world-class simplification to our users and merchants. The Wallet App is designed to empower everyone, enabling them to navigate and master the increasingly digital everyday life with ease. Age, technical skills, or physical abilities should never be barriers to participation in modern life.
Looking ahead to 2025, we are driven by the same purpose: to create solutions that truly empower everyone. Our first milestones include supporting worldwide payments with Visa and Mastercard, and launching our Tap-to-Pay in Denmark and Finland. This is more than a product launch — it’s a step towards building an inclusive digital society where everyone can thrive. The journey is just beginning 🚀
