As usual, Apple may not have been the first company to enter the mobile payments market but is certainly one of the most successful. Apple Pay has been a massive success in the places that it has launched but Apple has had some difficulty bringing the service to one of its most important markets: China. Despite how aggressively Apple has been expanding in China recently, it seems that the company hasn’t been able to find the necessary partners to make Apple Pay work in China.
Apple Pay is a product that has thus far seemed to mirror many successful products Apple has launched before it. As was the case with the iPod, iPhone and iPad, Apple was not the first company to enter this emerging category. Mobile payment systems have existed in various parts of the world for more than a decade, in fact. Instead, Apple took its time to launch the best product it could build, not the first product it could build, and the result is a terrific user experience that is gaining acclaim and traction in these early days. Now, however, it appears as though Apple Pay has hit the first major hurdle it must overcome on the road to widespread adoption. China is a market that Apple has clearly realized it must tackle if it hopes to enjoy continued growth. The company has struck several big deals in the region over the past couple of years, and CEO Tim Cook has given every indication that Apple will continue to focus on building its business in China.
