Apple’s Chinese App Store Teams Up with UnionPay
Apple has announced that its app store in China will be accepting payments via UnionPay.
China is Apple’s second largest market for app downloads, but until now, monetary transactions in the market of China were somewhat complex.
The banking system in China is highly complicated especially after 2010, when significant regulations were placed to control the accelerated growth of inflation and debt. This lead to the inability for consumers and small companies to use credit.
Consequently Apple had to use a prepaid card system to accommodate both its Chinese customers and its own dealings. This meant that a consumer had to first select a bank that would provide him with an online banking password and then deposit $8 or more. Using one’s own bank account wasn’t an option until now.
Using UnionPay, money is transferred directly from the bank account to the corresponding transaction. UnionPay is China’s national bankcard company that promotes interbank transactions. Eddy Cue, Apple’s SVP of Internet Software and Services, said in a release that customers in China have long wished for the ability to use UnionPay as a payment method and that linking UnionPay to one’s iTunes account will make purchasing fast and easy with only a click.
As a payment choice it is already extremely popular not only in China, but globally as well, having issued so far no less than 4.5 billion cards worldwide. Apple has its own mobile payment system, Apple Pay, but there is no word yet as to whether or not the company will integrate it with UnionPay.