This week the new contactless payment system for public transport in China came into operation, a system managed by the Yikatong company and which allows all users of devices managed by Android to pay for their tickets through the application of the company in combination with the NFC chip of the devices that integrate it. Unfortunately Apple Pay has been left out of this payment system, due to limitations that Apple imposes, since no other application can have access to the chip, a demand that is giving you many problems in Australia as we have informed you these months.
Apple's main and only problem in this regard is its limitation to native applications. Apple is unwilling to allow third-party applications to access the chip, as it would put the security of our data at risk. In this way, the company in charge of managing public transport in China has not been able to launch an iPhone application. The Yitakong app for Android It offers us a very similar operation to that which we can find in other applications such as AliPay or WeChat Pay, applications that have access to the NFC chip of the terminals.
What is not entirely clear, is because the company that manages public transport does not support Apple Pay, when most establishments around the world are, thanks to Contacless technology. In addition, Apple is the fifth manufacturer that sells the most terminals in the country, although soon and at the rate of decline that is going, it may fall from the Top 5 in the next quarter.
Perhaps one of the reasons why Apple Pay is not compatible with the new contactless payment system is the market share it has, close to 1%, in a market where Alibaba's payment platform is the undisputed king. But all is not lost for Apple. It should be remembered that the iPhone that is sold in Japan has a special NFC chip that is compatible with the Japanese public transport payment system, an option that Apple could implement in the next iPhone models so as not to be left out of this important source of income.
