Reuters reported the awaited Chinese launch of Apple Pay today. The service was first announced in September 2014, becoming available in the U.S. in October 2014. A global rollout has been slow in coming though, with only the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia added in 2015.
Apple is opening 2016 by bringing the service to one of its largest regions. China is known for embracing Apple products and the company expects this to hold true with Apple Pay. Jennifer Bailey, vice president of the service, said “We think China could be our largest Apple Pay market” in an interview with Reuters.
Apple is understood to have as many as 20 banks and lenders ready to add support for the service tomorrow. China’s biggest lender, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd. (ICBC), is included, ensuring as many Chinese people as possible will be able to add their cards to Apple Pay and start completing transactions with just their phone.
“Apple Pay launching in China today. Can’t wait for you to try it and see how incredibly easy it is to use!” said CEO Tim Cook in a post on Chinese social network Weibo yesterday as the rollout was announced.
Despite the support from Chinese banks, Apple Pay isn’t expected to have an easy launch in China. The country is already well supplied with mobile payment providers such as Alipay and WeChat Payment, an extension of the popular WeChat messaging app.
Retailers aren’t all enthusiastic about Apple Pay, seeing it as an unnecessary additional option for them to support. “With 100 percent saturation of local payment systems, no one in China is clamoring for Apple Pay,” one store said to Reuters. “Today, everyone has a local payment option on their phone, so Apple Pay is a solution in need of a problem.”
Apple Pay lets iPhone users store their payment cards and credentials securely on their phone. The iPhone can then be used to pay for physical goods in a store, by tapping it against a payment terminal, or for software purchases within apps. The card details never leave the phone, keeping the user safe and providing a quick and easy way to complete low-value transactions.
Despite the apparent benefits of the service, Apple Pay is widely perceived to be struggling in its native U.S. Limited retailer support and a lack of consumer awareness of where, how and why Apple Pay can and should be used led to fewer transactions being made with the platform on Black Friday in 2015 than in 2014, despite the number of Apple Pay-equipped iPhones increasing dramatically in the same period.
Apple doesn’t release exact figures on service usage but recent reports put the figure at under 3 percent of all eligible transactions made in a store. That suggests it may be one of the least-used elements of iOS, despite the development and advertisement that has been directed at the feature.
