China is a huge market for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and the company has never hidden its interest in expanding in the region. The second most populous country in the world offers a lot in terms of sales and revenue. However buying from Apple store has been a hassle for people of China because of the complicated paying process. Chinese customers had to either use a credit card like Visa or set up a prepaid account prior to making a purchase from the app store. That not only meant choosing a bank but also coming up with a password and depositing at least $8 in the account.
Apple has figured out a way to deal with the issue.
UnionPay is the most used and most popular payment card in China. At Beijing, On November 17th Apple announced that the app store will connect with UnionPay as a payment option for the customers in China. This will enable the customers to link their Apple ID with UnionPay debit or credit card and they will be able to buy with just a tap of the card.
This association between Union Pay and Apple Store will make purchases easy and hassle free for the customers in China. So far there hasn’t been said anything about linking Union Pay with Apple Pay, but this could be a future venture for Apple.
Apple’s senior vice president of internet software and services, Eddy Cue said that there was a lot of demand from the customers in China who were requesting the ability to purchase from the App Store using UnionPay. He also said that China is Apple Inc.’s second largest market when it comes to app downloads even without UnionPay, and now Apple has provided them a way to make purchases easier.
As a bankcard network, UnionPay conducts China’s inter-bank clearing and settlement system on a national level. It promotes the global UnionPay card acceptance network as well as the usage of the card. It also provides with solutions to issues related to payments, in order to provide quality and convenient payment services to its customers.
Up until now about 4.5 billion UnionPay cards have been issued to national as well as international customers. The UnionPay card has been made available for both rural and urban areas of China, which makes it the largest company in China. China’s UnionPay has also been able to get UnionPay Card accepted in over 140 countries of the world. This was made possible due to UnionPay’s cooperation with over 400 global institutions.
UnionPay’s immense achievement and popularity makes it a favourable choice for Apple and that is why Apple decided to connect with the company. It will help Apple get stronger in China and will boost the sales in Apple’s App Store.
Millions of Chinese will be buying from Apple’s App Store that will help Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) generate even more revenues from the market in China than it already did. It was smart move and one that may get even better quarterly results for the tech giant.
