“Apple Inc. is now allowing Chinese customers to use popular local mobile-payment system WeChat Pay for purchases in its App Store, underscoring the expanding reach of the service owned by technology titan Tencent Holdings Ltd.,” Alyssa Abkowitz reports for The Wall Street Journal.
“Apple’s decision to accept payments from the service came despite recent tensions with Tencent, including over the Chinese company’s rollout this year of a ‘mini-program’ system that has been seen as a competitor to the App Store,” Abkowitz reports. “‘We are committed to offering customers across our ecosystem a variety of payment options that are simple and convenient,’ Apple said in a statement.”
“Tencent’s latest victory comes as it challenges the more established Alipay mobile-payment system backed by local rival Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. As WeChat Pay, which controls 40% of the Chinese market, has gained wider acceptance, Alipay’s market share has fallen from 80% in 2014 to about 50% currently, according to data from iResearch Consulting Group,” Abkowitz reports. “Apple began accepting App Store payments from Alipay in November 2016 and from state-backed network UnionPay two years earlier.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Hey, as long as you pay, pay however your heart desires!
SEE ALSO:
Apple Adds UnionPay payment option for App Store Customers in China – November 16, 2014
I’m afraid to type anything.
Nice to see some internal competition going on over there.
If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.