The long-awaited launch of Apple Pay in China is coming soon, thanks to a partnership that has been forged by Apple with China UnionPay. The expansion into China also makes sense when one considers Apple’s recent attempts to gain a better foothold in the Chinese market. The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Apple hoped to launch the payments service before February 8, China’s Spring Festival Holiday.
Advertisement
An Apple iphone 6 with Apple Pay is shown in this photo illustration in Encinitas, California, June 3, 2015. Combined with China UnionPay’s 260 million customers, Apple Pay will launch with an impressively large network of potential users.
“China is an extremely important market for Apple and with China UnionPay and support from 15 of China’s leading banks, users will soon have a convenient, private and secure payment experience”, Eddy Cue, Apple’s head of Internet software and services, said in a statement. Instead, unique Device Account Numbers are assigned, encrypted and securely stored in dedicated chips called the Secure Element on devices. For more information on Apple Pay, visit http://www.apple.com/cn/apple-pay/.
China UnionPay has about 4.5 billion credit and debit card users worldwide.
Advertisement
The company had reportedly been trying to reach an agreement with Chinese bank UnionPay, which is the only bank in China that conducts interbank payments, MarketWatch reported. The UnionPay network has been extended to all the cities and rural areas in China. As a full commercial solution, including mobile shopping, catalogues, coupons, and more – PowaTag is available on both iOS and Android platforms, does not depend on NFC-enabled POS systems, works with ALL China UnionPay debit/credit cards, and can be immediately deployed at any merchant who accepts China UnionPay cards. Additional information may be found at www.unionpay.com. Today, Apple leads the world in innovation with iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple TV.
