Earlier this month, Apple Pay officially launched in China, making it the fifth location that Apple Pay is available and the first location in Asia

2. Apple Pay officially launched in China, making it
the fifth location that Apple Pay is available and
the first location in Asia. Users in China can pay
with their iPhone, iPad or their Apple Watch with
any UnionPay debit or credit cards at any
UnionPay compatible point-of-sale systems.
Apple believes that China could be their largest
Apple Pay market yet. Apple has secured deals
with 19 of the biggest lenders in China, which
means that 80 percent of credit and debit cards
in China will be eligible for use with Apple Pay.
This may seem like a gold mine for Apple, but
many believe that dark times lie ahead for Apple
Pay in China.

3. Apple Pay in the US
First, let’s take a look at how Apple Pay is doing in
its home country, the US. Currently, Apple Pay
usage has hit somewhat of a plateau in the US.
According to a new survey from First Annapolis
Consulting, 73% of all consumers said they had
heard of Apple Pay, but only 20% of iPhone 6 users
said they had ever used it. The number of iPhone 6
users who had used Apple Pay in 2015 is around
22%. The reasons behind these numbers are
rather complex. Rather than blaming it on the
user experience, many consumers cite retailer
adoption as the reason they don’t use mobile
payments regularly.

4. Why does Apple believe Apple
Pay will be successful in China?
Naturally, we would assume Apple Pay would
do tremendously well in China due to the fact
that they have more than double the amount of
NFC terminals that the US does. Meaning that
retailer adoption is less of a problem than in the
US. Another reason that many people believe
that Apple Pay is going to do well in China is
because the culture there supports new
technologies. Asian culture is known to be on
t h e f o r e f r o n t i n e a r l y a d o p t i o n o f
technology such as the mobile wallet. While on
the outside that looks to be extremely
promising for Apple, it is actually their worst
enemy.

5. Enter WeChat and AliPay.
WeChat and AliPay are the two leading mobile wallets in
China. WeChat is a messaging app with a built in mobile
wallet and AliPay is a payments and local shopping app.
Each app already has hundreds of millions of users- 650
million on WeChat, 400 million on Alipay. Gaining this
many users is not easy and takes lots of promotion. For
an example, check out WeChat’s Chinese New Year
promotion that one of PassKit’s very own experienced for
himself.
Not only does WeChat and AliPay have an advantage
because they have a user base, but Apple Pay is missing a
key ingredient that is instrumental in the success of
WeChat and AliPay. That is the fact that both WeChat and
AliPay have focused on becoming more than just a mobile
payment platform, but rather an entire online to offline
experience.
WeChat and AliPay both feature offers from different
businesses as well allow business to build relationships
through their app. People in China are used to having full-
featured apps that are more than just a payment
provider.

6. There is still hope for Apple
Pay
The main thing to note is that Apple Wallet is actually capable of being much more than just a place to
store credit cards. Users can store business cards, coupons, loyalty cards, event tickets, and any other
type of content a business wants to promote via mobile wallet. Apple Wallet also features beacon
integration that allows businesses to further enhance the consumer’s experience within their store. The
problem is that Apple has spent so much time trying to promote mobile payments, they forget to
promote the best part of Apple Wallet. The actual wallet itself.
China and the businesses in China are in a very good position to capitalize off of the capabilities of
mobile wallets. And many already are with WeChat and AliPay. If business start to treat Apple Wallet like
the awesome tool that it is, it can become a major driving force in the mobile payment/mobile
marketing ecosystem in China. This would also make Apple Pay a success.

7. The advantage Apple has over nearly every competitor in Asia, is the trust and status that comes
alongside an Apple logo. By using this trust and status to their advantage, Apple can gain adoption
much faster than WeChat and AliPay. If businesses begin to adopt Apple Pay and start marketing
through Apple Wallet, this will dramatically increase the chances of success for Apple Pay. And with
plans to expand Apple Pay into Hong Kong and Singapore by the end of this year, Apple is going to
need to figure this out sooner rather than later.
Overall, Apple Pay has a chance to succeed in China if they begin targeting the right demographic in the
right way. Many people believe that Apple Pay won’t succeed because China doesn’t need another
mobile payment provider, but that’s not true. If Apple Pay doesn’t succeed in China, it will be because
Apple did a poor job promoting the capabilities of Apple Wallet. They need to show business owners
Apple Wallet’s potential as a powerful marketing tool and it’s ability to bring consumers from online to
offline. Once business owners see this value and adopt, they can start promoting it to consumers, who
will also find value.
One thing that is for sure is that Apple Pay in China is definitely something to keep an eye on. Apple has
major plans to start spreading Apple Pay around the world in 2016 and China will set the tone.
Do you think Apple Pay will succeed in China? Or will WeChat and AliPay remain as the driving forces in
mobile payments?