Apple Pay Holds 90% Market Share of Chinese NFC Payment Sector, Vice President Says
Zhang Xia
DATE:  Jul 20 2017
/ SOURCE:  Yicai
Apple Pay Holds 90% Market Share of Chinese NFC Payment Sector, Vice President Says Apple Pay Holds 90% Market Share of Chinese NFC Payment Sector, Vice President Says

(Yicai Global) July 20 -- Apple Inc.'s [NASDAQ:AAPL] Apple Pay has a 90 percent market share in the Chinese near field communication (NFC) payment sector, while 90 percent of mobile payments with China Merchants Bank Co. [SHA:600036] credit cards are made via Apple Pay, Apply Pay Vice President Jennifer Bailey says.

NFC payment requires hardware support and iPhone users can only use Apple Pay offline if merchants have installed devices such as point-of-sale (POS) terminals that support China UnionPay Co.'s Cloud QuickPass.

Apple Inc. recently launched the largest promotional campaign in the company's history. From July 18-24, consumers can enjoy a discount of up to 50 percent when making payments via Apple Pay at designated merchants that accept Cloud QuickPass.

Participating merchants include brick-and-mortar stores such as Seven & I Holdings Co.'s [TYO:3382] 7-Eleven convenience stores, Nestle S.A.'s [SIX:NESN] Häagen-Daz, Starbucks Corp.'s [NASDAQ:SBUX] cafes, Watsons personal care stores, Weiduomei's cake stores and Zhen Kungfu fast food restaurants

The campaign also features online retailers such as Ctrip.com International Ltd. [NASDAQ:CTR], Dianping, Elong Inc., JD Group Inc. and Maoyan Movie.

Consumers are not expected to pay much attention to the discounts as they have already developed their own payment habits, analysts said. POS terminals are rare at those places frequently visited by consumers such as restaurants and malls, while QR code payment services such as Alipay and WeChat are widely available. With Alipay promoting a cash-free society, mobile payment will become more and more popular. However, Apple may find it difficult to claim market share from China's two biggest third-party payment platform companies.

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Keywords:   MSCI,Innovation,E-Payment,WECHAT PAY,Alipay