Apple Pay to reportedly launch in China by February

Posted:
in iPhone edited November 2015
Rumors of Apple's entry into the Chinese mobile payments market gained momentum on Monday, as sources reportedly told Dow Jones and other outlets current plans hold for an Apple Pay launch by February 2016.




Word of the supposed debut arrived in a "breaking" tweet from CNBC, though the news outlet failed to offer further details, including specifics on how Apple plans to deal with regulatory hurdles, credit card processor partnerships and national bank agreements.

A more comprehensive report from The Wall Street Journal said Apple is well on its way to a release after striking deals with China's four state-run banks, meaning users would link Apple Pay directly to their bank accounts. Apple is aiming to launch Apple Pay before China's Spring Festival holiday on Feb. 8, the publication said.

It is no secret that Apple is champing at the bit to launch its touchless payment service in China, a sector that accounts for more of Apple's overall revenue with each passing quarter. So far, however, Apple Pay has yet to curry favor with Chinese banks and, more importantly, the state-owned credit and debit card processor UnionPay. Without UnionPay on board, Apple's card-based product is dead in the water.

Reports in 2014 suggested Apple was close to striking a deal, but discussion ultimately fell through. At the time, it was rumored that UnionPay was reluctant to agree to Apple's usage rates which, while identical to those in the U.S., the UK and other Apple Pay markets, is considered high for China.

Still, in May Apple CEO Tim Cook said he was "very bullish" on Apple Pay's chances in China, noting the country's growing middle class and high saturation of smartphone owners bodes well for mass adoption. Cook reiterated his stance on China's potential as a major growth driver during his company's most recent quarterly earnings conference call.

One option that gained traction late last year was a possible tie-up with Ant Financial, a subsidiary of e-commerce giant Alibaba. Ant runs Alipay, a popular online payments service that has seen middling success with QR code-based mobile transactions. Alibaba confirmed it was in discussions with Apple, but a finished product has yet to materialize.

Elsewhere in the world, Apple Pay is off to a strong start, though adoption is not on pace to usurp traditional payment methods anytime soon. Initially launched in the U.S. last October, Apple Pay reached UK shores in July and more recently went live in Canada and Australia last week.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 12
    dbhdbh Posts: 41member

    not only in China but major Asian markets..

  • Reply 2 of 12
    ksecksec Posts: 1,569member

    Cant wait to see this happen......

     

    P.S The stock is down even with this news.... so Apple is doomed no matter what they do.

  • Reply 3 of 12
    Re: "... link Apple Pay directly to their bank accounts."

    How literal is this? Would Apple Pay link directly to the person's [U]accounts[/U], or would Apple Pay link the the person's [U]credit card[/U] at the bank, which -- in turn -- is linked to the person's account?

    I ask because a common criticism of CurrenC is the security concern of having it link directly to a person's bank account. I'm hoping that Apple won't have to follow a similar approach in China.
  • Reply 4 of 12

    Rock N Roll...

    Go Apple Go Go Go.

     

    Now that Apple is doing the grunt work to build Apple Pay to scale, people don't say much...

    When it becomes a huge success you will hear a lot of bickering...

  • Reply 5 of 12
    cnocbuicnocbui Posts: 3,613member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Slprescott View Post



    Re: "... link Apple Pay directly to their bank accounts."



    How literal is this? Would Apple Pay link directly to the person's accounts, or would Apple Pay link the the person's credit card at the bank, which -- in turn -- is linked to the person's account?



    I ask because a common criticism of CurrenC is the security concern of having it link directly to a person's bank account. I'm hoping that Apple won't have to follow a similar approach in China.



    I don't know about the US but here in Europe and Australia it has been very common to have card based electronic payments that function directly on one's bank account.  They are debit transactions rather than involving credit.  These days the banks have largely affiliated with Visa and Mastercard  and the cards are called Visa/Mastercard Debit and have a dual function in that they can be used in situations where previously CCs were used (Online transactions) as well as being used for the direct debit transactions at shops, ATMs and at a teller as previously. The cards are both chip and PIN and NFC

  • Reply 6 of 12
    slprescott wrote: »
    Re: "... link Apple Pay directly to their bank accounts."

    How literal is this? Would Apple Pay link directly to the person's accounts, or would Apple Pay link the the person's credit card at the bank, which -- in turn -- is linked to the person's account?

    I ask because a common criticism of CurrenC is the security concern of having it link directly to a person's bank account. I'm hoping that Apple won't have to follow a similar approach in China.

    I'm not sure how it will be implemented in China because of how everything seems to have to meet different rules. Even if ApplePay is forced to be "similar to" CurrenC in some way, it will still be better in some other ways.
  • Reply 7 of 12
    Adding ApplePay to China's iPhone hot market will be like pouring gasoline on a roaring blaze...

    Could Apple boost China's economy enough on it's own to make a difference?
  • Reply 8 of 12
    sog35 wrote: »

    Stock will forever be undervalued as long as its at Wall Streets mercy.
    It will never be fairly valued until they go private.
    No sense even talking about it. Its a FACT OF LIFE that Apple will be undervalued and manipulated.

    The only time in the last 5 years the stock was not undervalued was for a brief time in 2012 when it was $700 for a few hours.

    Wall Street just spews out lies and bullshit and the stock drops.
    Then FACTS come out and the stock does not recover.

    In Aug/Sept it was China economy was going into the tank and no one can afford iPhones in China. 
    Stock dropped from $130 to $100.
    Earnings come out and China revenue is up 100%.
    Yet the stock never recovered to $130.

    Wall street can continue to spew lies and stock always drops.
    Even when the lies are proven false it does not matter, the stock still does not recover.

    Its a SICK GAME.

    I'm SICK of it.  I don't even blame Wall Street anymore.  Its Apple's shareholders and BOD/CEO that is at fault.  Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice share on me.  Wall Street has been fooling Apple and fuking them up for a decade. Its up to Apple/Shareholders to say enough is enough and go private and give Wall Street the big middle finger.

    Some advice: Never drink alone or early in the morning... or especially both at the same time. And for God's sake stay away from a keyboard after you've done both of them things.
  • Reply 9 of 12
    sog35 wrote: »
    Stock will forever be undervalued as long as its at Wall Streets mercy.
    It will never be fairly valued until they go private.
    No sense even talking about it. Its a FACT OF LIFE that Apple will be undervalued and manipulated.

    The only time in the last 5 years the stock was not undervalued was for a brief time in 2012 when it was $700 for a few hours.

    Wall Street just spews out lies and bullshit and the stock drops.
    Then FACTS come out and the stock does not recover.

    In Aug/Sept it was China economy was going into the tank and no one can afford iPhones in China. 
    Stock dropped from $130 to $100.
    Earnings come out and China revenue is up 100%.
    Yet the stock never recovered to $130.

    Wall street can continue to spew lies and stock always drops.
    Even when the lies are proven false it does not matter, the stock still does not recover.

    Its a SICK GAME.

    I'm SICK of it.  I don't even blame Wall Street anymore.  Its Apple's shareholders and BOD/CEO that is at fault.  Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice share on me.  Wall Street has been fooling Apple and fuking them up for a decade. Its up to Apple/Shareholders to say enough is enough and go private and give Wall Street the big middle finger.

    Perhaps the BOD and CEO want the price lower for now so they can buy back more stock at a cheaper rate.
  • Reply 10 of 12
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    sog35 wrote: »
    Stock will forever be undervalued as long as its at Wall Streets mercy.
    It will never be fairly valued until they go private.
    No sense even talking about it. Its a FACT OF LIFE that Apple will be undervalued and manipulated.

    The only time in the last 5 years the stock was not undervalued was for a brief time in 2012 when it was $700 for a few hours.

    Wall Street just spews out lies and bullshit and the stock drops.
    Then FACTS come out and the stock does not recover.

    In Aug/Sept it was China economy was going into the tank and no one can afford iPhones in China. 
    Stock dropped from $130 to $100.
    Earnings come out and China revenue is up 100%.
    Yet the stock never recovered to $130.

    Wall street can continue to spew lies and stock always drops.
    Even when the lies are proven false it does not matter, the stock still does not recover.

    Its a SICK GAME.

    I'm SICK of it.  I don't even blame Wall Street anymore.  Its Apple's shareholders and BOD/CEO that is at fault.  Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice share on me.  Wall Street has been fooling Apple and fuking them up for a decade. Its up to Apple/Shareholders to say enough is enough and go private and give Wall Street the big middle finger.
    Just finished a good read on corporate inversions, what they are and the pros and cons. Considering there's few cons perhaps that might be the better course if Apple were to change anything organization-wise?
  • Reply 11 of 12
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by sog35 View Post

     

    The only time in the last 5 years the stock was not undervalued was for a brief time in 2012 when it was $700 for a few hours.


    What are you talking about? During the period Feb - Jul of this year (i.e., 2015), AAPL steadily held $129 - $132 per share, i.e., $903 - $924 pre-split.

Sign In or Register to comment.