ICBC & local reports back Feb. 18 launch for Apple Pay in China

Apple Pay will indeed be available in China on Feb. 18, according to state media, as well as social media posts from representatives at the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.

Two other parties will launch Apple Pay on the 18th along with ICBC, Reuters quoted state media as saying. These include China Guangfa Bank — the first to claim the Feb. 18 date, via WeChat — and China Construction Bank Corp. ICBC, though, is China's biggest lender in terms of assets.

To date Apple has only promised that Apple Pay would launch in China sometime in early 2016.

The service may face an uphill battle in the region. While the iPhone is a popular device there and Apple will have multiple launch partners, other mobile payment systems are already relatively entrenched, particularly Alipay and WeChat Payment.

One of the next destinations for Apple Pay is rumored to be France, although any such launch would be months away, and an announcement might have to wait for Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in June.

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6 Comments

Soli

said about 8 years ago

I knew ApplePay was going to be a slow burn to gain traction—being such a revolutionary change that requires the efforts from banks, multinationals, and retailers—but I didn't expect that China would be in the top 10* countries to come on board.

* You may count Top 5, if you don't think that only be on American Express is considered adoption, but I do.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Pay#History

jony0

said about 8 years ago

Soli said:

I knew ApplePay was going to be a slow burn to gain traction—being such a revolutionary change that requires the efforts from banks, multinationals, and retailers—but I didn't expect that China would be in the top 10* countries to come on board.

* You may count Top 5, if you don't think that only be on American Express is considered adoption, but I do.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Pay#History

I definitely don't consider AE only as adoption. If I knew how long it will take our greedy Canadian banks to get off the pot and play I would get the American Express card. I may be too optimistic though.
And yes, by that criteria, you could even count China in the top 3.

Soli

said about 8 years ago

jony0 said:

Soli said:

I knew ApplePay was going to be a slow burn to gain traction—being such a revolutionary change that requires the efforts from banks, multinationals, and retailers—but I didn't expect that China would be in the top 10* countries to come on board.

* You may count Top 5, if you don't think that only be on American Express is considered adoption, but I do.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Pay#History

I definitely don't consider AE only as adoption. If I knew how long it will take our greedy Canadian banks to get off the pot and play I would get the American Express card. I may be too optimistic though.
And yes, by that criteria, you could even count China in the top 3.

Is it fair to call CA (and by extension, other countries, like AU) greedy for not wanting to agree to Apple's US terms, as I've heard it? I've also read that AU and CA retailer fees for using a card are much lower than in the US, which, if accurate, means that Apple gets a much higher share of the fee.

JeffAshe

said about 8 years ago

Soli said:

I knew ApplePay was going to be a slow burn to gain traction—being such a revolutionary change that requires the efforts from banks, multinationals, and retailers—but I didn't expect that China would be in the top 10* countries to come on board.

* You may count Top 5, if you don't think that only be on American Express is considered adoption, but I do.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Pay#History

I wouldn't call ApplePay revolutionary. It certainly may appear that way in North America, but China is the leader in mobile payments. ApplePay has a long road ahead to catch up with China's existing mobile payment networks and solutions in terms of reach, features, convenience, and ease of use. I travel to China every quarter for work, and using the WeChat app has been a revelation. I haven't had to use cash or credit card for the past three and a half years. Taxis, train fares, subway fares, plane tickets, shopping, food delivery, movie tickets, restaurant bills, and everything and anything you can think of can be paid for electronically and instantly. I'd be happy if ApplePay can achieve 3% to 5% of the Chinese mobile payment market.

Soli

said about 8 years ago

JeffAshe said:

Soli said:

I knew ApplePay was going to be a slow burn to gain traction—being such a revolutionary change that requires the efforts from banks, multinationals, and retailers—but I didn't expect that China would be in the top 10* countries to come on board.

* You may count Top 5, if you don't think that only be on American Express is considered adoption, but I do.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Pay#History

I wouldn't call ApplePay revolutionary. It certainly may appear that way in North America, but China is the leader in mobile payments. ApplePay has a long road ahead to catch up with China's existing mobile payment networks and solutions in terms of reach, features, convenience, and ease of use. I travel to China every quarter for work, and using the WeChat app has been a revelation. I haven't had to use cash or credit card for the past three and a half years. Taxis, train fares, subway fares, plane tickets, shopping, food delivery, movie tickets, restaurant bills, and everything and anything you can think of can be paid for electronically and instantly. I'd be happy if ApplePay can achieve 3% to 5% of the Chinese mobile payment market.

Apple Pay is revolutionary, but you have to look past the superficial concept of being able to pay with out touching to see how it's more secure, and will be the method the entire will adopt in time.