Apple Pay is making its entry in China it seems, as the media is claiming that the Cupertino firm has registered an entity in the Shanghai free-trade zone. The entity is operating the Apple Pay business and started a pilot project.
Named Apple Technology Service, the entity was registered in the city’s free trade zone on June 10th, according to the Shanghai registration database. It’s listed as operating in the area of technical consulting, services and system integration in the field of payments. Tim Cook previously said that he hopes to bring Apple Pay to China as fast as possible, but there’s no timetable for that yet.
Such initiatives usually need approvals from Chinese regulators, especially since they’re dealing with large sums of money. The local central bank will also have to get involved. If approved, Apple Pay will enter a huge market and a prolific one, where e-payments are already very popular. Chinese customers are used to relying on mobile apps like Alipay to pay for taxis and groceries.
Alipay has 400 million registered users already, of which 80% are mobile users. A potential deal between Apple and this network may follow.
via WSJ
