Samsung mobile-pay service will expand, starting with China

Some mobile payment experts argue that Apple Pay is a safer payment option than an Internet-based system because it uses near-field communication (NFC), a short-range wireless technology that lets Apple devices and banks exchange data.

Apple Pay’s entry into the Chinese market also comes at a time when the company is resisting efforts by USA government investigators, who are seeking the global tech giant’s help in breaking its iPhone encryption in the investigation into a terror attack in December in San Bernardino, California. In the United States, some 2 million retail locations and around 1,000 banks and financial institutions already accept the payment system.

The deal is unique because it will enable Apple to become a major player in China’s massive mobile payment market and challenge two major local brands, Alipay of Alibaba and WeChat Wallet, a social media platform owned by Tencent. Apple is expecting more banks to come forward and be a part of Apple Pay.

Jason Yu, general manager of Kantar Worldpanel China, said most Apple users in the country are well educated and have a high monthly income.

An Apple spokesperson has claimed that the issues that people were facing while trying to register for Apple Pay were due to a massive influx of users. She claimed that to sign up with Apple Pay, she had to sign out of iCloud and then perform mobile payment registration with Apple’s service and then log back in to iCloud causing her lot of inconvenience. McDonald’s staff claimed that their restaurant was not supporting the Apple Pay service at the moment, according to some users.

The Chinese market is well-primed for cashless payment.

The iPhone maker has partnered with China UnionPay, the country’s largest clearing network, which means customers of 19 lending banks, such as Bank of China, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China and Agricultural Bank of China, will be able to make payments with their iDevices, through UnionPay’s point-of-sales network. In the U.S., these are said to be 15 cents per $100 transaction.