Apple Pay to launch in China by February: reports

Apple Pay would launch in China as early as February, according to reports. According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple ''has struck deals recently with China's big four state-run banks… [that] will allow potential Apple Pay users to link the service with their local bank accounts.''

However, some regulatory hurdles would need to be addressed. Currently, Tencent's Tenpay dominated the mobile payments space in China.

According to a report in Quartz, in the beginning of October, Apple was ramping up hiring in its push to bring Apple Pay to China. Meanwhile, Apple's newly created subsidiary in the Shanghai free-trade zone was believed to be part of that wider push to enter the lucrative payments space in the country. The Wall Street Journal had reported in September, citing ''people familiar with the matter,'' that Apple Pay had registered an entity in the Shanghai free-trade zone/

It is no secret that Apple was keen to launch its touchless payment service in China, a sector that accounted for an increasing part of Apple's overall revenue with each passing quarter. So far, however, Apple Pay had yet to rope in Chinese banks and, more importantly, the state-owned credit and debit card processor UnionPay.

Without UnionPay on board, Apple's card-based product would not fly.

According to reports in 2014, Apple was close to striking a deal. However, discussions ultimately fell through. It was rumored at that time that UnionPay was reluctant to agree to Apple's usage rates which, while identical to those in the US, the UK and other Apple Pay markets, were felt to be on the higher side for China.