Re: [w3c/webpayments-payment-apps-api] Suggested apps (#74)

Hi all,

Here is a summary of our discussion about Recommended payment apps
from the 4 January 2017 call [1]:

 * Rouslan and Jason indicated that discussions with payment app
   providers suggest this is an important feature. Merchants
   and payment app providers are likely to have agreements in
   place about the use of names and logos. There was consensus on the
   call that it is desirable for merchants to be able to provide
   name and icon information about recommended payments to the
   browser.

 * To help with the conversation we tried to disambiguate some terms.

   REGISTRATION: Registering a service-worker with the browser; this
                 service worker is how we manage the payment app
   life cycle. Registration provides the browser
   with access to a Payment App Manifest, which
   includes information such as names, icons, etc.

   ENROLLMENT: This relates to the user's relationship with the
               payment service provider, such as "getting an account"
               with some provider. Enrollment is outside the scope
        of this specification.

 * When the user agent displays a registered payment app, it uses
   name/icon information from the payment manifest. This information
   is not available in the case of unregistered recommended payment
   apps. There was consensus on the call that the merchant should
   therefore provide (through the API) enough information to 
     1) identify the service worker for the payment app, and
     2) display an icon and label for the payment app

 * It was noted that in some cases, the merchant may recommend a
   payment app that the user has already registered. There was
   consensus on the call that the merchant should be able to
   COMPLEMENT label/icon information provided via the payment app
   manifest, but not override it. This would likely confuse the
   user, for example.

   We did not have time on the call to flesh out ideas for how
   merchant-provided information (e.g., "Use bobpay for a 10%
   discount") could be displayed alongside payment app
   manifest-provided labels and icons.  One idea mentioned is to
   display the app twice: once in the "registered" area and once in
   the "recommended" area. We need to discuss this topic further.
   
 * There seemed to be agreement to view the recommended payment
   app flow as follows:

   - The merchant may identify one or more recommended payment
     apps, providing label(s), icon(s), and identifying the
     Web-based payment app service worker.

   - If the user has already registered a payment app, the
     browser MAY use this information to display this payment
     app specially. 

   - If the user has not yet registered a payment app,
     then the merchant-provided information is used to display
     it as selectable by the user for this transaction.

   - If the user selects an unregistered recommended payment
     app, it is first registered. Processing at that point is
     the same as when the user selects any registered payment
     app.

   In other words: Recommended payment apps behave just like
   registered payment apps once they have been selected.

 * One implication of this discussion is that we are going to need
   to modify an existing statement in the specification [2]:

     "Registration is not a prerequisite for using a payment app. In
     particular, a user should be able to pay with a
     merchant-recommended payment app that the user has not yet
     registered."

   The conclusion of today's discussion was that, for Web-based
   payment apps implemented as service workers, registration is
   required before usage. The statement may still be true for native
   payment apps, but we do not plan to address them in detail in this
   specification.

I expect to make some edits to the spec based on this summary.
 
[1] https://www.w3.org/2017/01/04-apps-minutes.html#item06
[2] https://w3c.github.io/webpayments-payment-apps-api/#registration-and-unregistration


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Received on Wednesday, 4 January 2017 16:57:59 UTC