Apple Pay is set to launch in China by February 2016, in time for Chinese New Year. Apple's global expansion has finally reached the largest market in Asia, with the tech giant sealing the deal with China's leading commercial banks.
The Wall Street Journal reported last week that the iPhone maker made an agreement with China's commercial banks, including the Agricultural Bank of China, the Bank of China, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, and China Construction Bank.
The interbank network in China is solely controlled by UnionPay. It is the only network for debit and credit card processing in the country eliminating Visa and MasterCard in the business. For use abroad, some credit cards linked to Visa, MasterCard, and American Express are offered by a state-controlled business.
On the other hand, there are only two major electronic payment providers in China, the Alipay and Tenpay. According to the report, Alipay, the payment facility created by Alibaba, dominated the service in the most populous country.
With the Apple Pay launch in China, a huge business potential market opens its door. The biggest state in Asia adding Hongkong, Macau, and Taiwan, can make a larger market compared to Europe. Currently, the United States placed as the largest market for Apple. In China, there are over 300 million customers using the electronic payment facility processed by e-commerce service provider Alipay.
Apple Technology Service Ltd. was registered in Shanghai Free Trade Zone to introduce Apple Pay service on June 10 and invested $13.4M capital. Apple Pay is set to launch in spring of February 8, 2016.
Last May, Apple CEO Tim Cook spoke to Xinhua news agency and opened up how they "very much want to get Apple Pay in China," MacRumors stated.
Following the deal, Apple is also planning to expand its electronic payment service to other countries including Singapore and Spain.
Apple Pay was already launched in the UK, Australia, and Canada.