Since the last conference in which Tim Cook announced the latest financial results of the company, almost every week we are talking about Apple Pay. It seems like next year it is going to be the year of the international expansion of this contactless payment technology, which hit the market in October last year in the United States and is currently only found in the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, the latter for just a few days.
Cook is looking forward to bringing Apple Pay to China, in fact, mid-year talks with the country's banks and financial institutions they were well advanced until they came to a standstill in which nobody wanted to give in and they had to abandon them permanently.
According to the latest rumors, Apple would be about to close an agreement with the main banks in the country to be able to offer this wireless payment technology from February of next year. Apparently the main differences that ruined the previous negotiations had to do with the percentage that Apple takes from each transaction. For payments by credit cards, Apple takes a or, 15% commission, while if they are transactions paid by debit, Apple gets or, 5 cents for each one.
But these figures areare too high for Chinese citizens and Apple has had to study new lower commissions, but for it to really pay off offering this payment service in the country. In addition, the laws that regulate banking transactions require special permits that Apple is trying to obtain.
Apple Pay comes to China and will have to fight the giant Alipay, Alibaba and UnionPay, the latter controlled by the state. If it finally reaches the Chinese market and manages to expand smoothly, China could become the top market by number of Apple Pay users.