Apple Pay to go live in China on February 18

The China market is extremely important for Apple Pay’s long-term success. The Sina Tech website also revealed that the payment service of Apple will be launched on Thursday according to the China Guangfa Bank WeChat account.

Fueled by the looming Apple Pay entry, shares of 30 Chinese companies that provide mobile payment technologies surged by an average of 6.69 percent on Tuesday, according to data from market tracker Royal-Flush Information. Until now, it remains to be unclear whether the idea of Apple Pay being available on all latest iPhones will be a major factor in the service’s growth in the country.

The fact that Apple is being supported by China’s biggest banks is significant.

The ICBC is China’s largest lender by assets.

Earlier this month, Apple announced that more than 2 million retail locations accept the payment system in the United States.

Similarly to Samsung Pay, Apple partnered with payment network UnionPay to bring its mobile payment service to China this year.

With the launch of Apple Pay in Mainland China, the iPhone maker would be entering the market already dominated by electronic payments, pitting the company against the local players Alibaba Holdings and Tencent Holdings.

Apple Pay can be used on the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6S, iPhone 6s Plus and the Apple Watch when making in-store purchases. Users can invest in wealth management funds, pay utility bills, send gifts to friends and give to charity.

Tencent operates WeChat Payment, while Ant Financial runs Alipay.

“Alipay is an app for both (Google software) Android and (Apple’s) iOS system and has little requirements for the make and model of the mobile phone”, she said. The service will be supported by China’s Industrial and Commercial Bank (ICBC). In the U.S., Apple gets 0.15% of all credit-card transactions through Apple Pay and 0.5 cent per debit transaction, according to people familiar with the matter.

However, the order has been opposed by Apple CEO Tim Cook, who says that the request will threaten security of Apple’s customers and result in long-term repercussions.

Apple Pay’s financial arrangements in China haven’t been disclosed.

“Apple has the issue of trying to distinguish itself from the other mobile payment platforms out there”.