Tim Cook 'very bullish' on bringing Apple Pay to China, talks with Alibaba and UnionPay underway<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p class="intro">
Tim Cook, who is currently in China to promote Apple's environmental initiatives in the country, shared details on plans to launch
Apple Pay in the region.</p> <p>Apple is currently negotiating with banks like UnionPay in the country as well as Alibaba, the largest e-commerce portal in China.</p> <!--break--> <p>Speaking to China's Xinhua news agency, Tim Cook said:</p>
<p>We very much want to get Apple Pay in China. I'm very bullish on Apple Pay in China.</p>
<p>Alibaba
was in discussions with Apple over the launch of Apple Pay in China last year, with the company's founder
Jack Ma stating that he would be interested in a possible collaboration. Although both companies met, nothing was officially announced.</p> <p>While Alibaba will no doubt be a key partner, a deal with UnionPay is needed for the program to take off in China, given that the bank is the only entity in China that handles inter-bank transfers, and has the necessary NFC-enabled network to handle contactless payments. Apple was in talks with several Chinese banks — including UnionPay —
earlier this year, but an agreement was not reached.</p> <p>Cook also shared plans regarding Apple's retail footprint in the country, stating that the company is targeting 40 Apple Stores by mid-2016, almost double that of the 22 stores currently present in China:</p>
<p>Forty is a good objective for us for mid next year.That is not where we want to end. We'll keep adding from there.</p>
<p>Source:
Xinhua (iCrossChina)</p> </div></div></div><img width='1' height='1' src='
' border='0'/><br clear='all'/>
<a href="
http://da.feedsportal.com/r/228765723517/u/49/f/616881/c/33998/s/463965cf/sc/28/rc/1/rc.htm" rel="nofollow"><img src="
http://da.feedsportal.com/r/228765723517/u/49/f/616881/c/33998/s/463965cf/sc/28/rc/1/rc.img" border="0"/>[/url]
<a href="
http://da.feedsportal.com/r/228765723517/u/49/f/616881/c/33998/s/463965cf/sc/28/rc/2/rc.htm" rel="nofollow"><img src="
http://da.feedsportal.com/r/228765723517/u/49/f/616881/c/33998/s/463965cf/sc/28/rc/2/rc.img" border="0"/>[/url]
<a href="
http://da.feedsportal.com/r/228765723517/u/49/f/616881/c/33998/s/463965cf/sc/28/rc/3/rc.htm" rel="nofollow"><img src="
http://da.feedsportal.com/r/228765723517/u/49/f/616881/c/33998/s/463965cf/sc/28/rc/3/rc.img" border="0"/>[/url]
<img src="[url]http://da.feedsportal.com/r/228765723517/u/49/f/616881/c/33998/s/463965cf/sc/28/a2.img" border="0"/>[/url]<img width="1" height="1" src="
http://pi.feedsportal.com/r/228765723517/u/49/f/616881/c/33998/s/463965cf/sc/28/a2t.img" border="0"/><img src="
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~4/yzzrDvjFiHI" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>
Source:
Tim Cook 'very bullish' on bringing Apple Pay to China, talks with Alibaba and UnionPay underway