- Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is expecting to bring Apple Pay to China as soon as February, Dow Jones is reporting.
- Sources told The Wall Street Journal that the company has made deals with China's big four state-run banks, which will allow linked banked accounts.
- Still unclear, the report says, is what transactions will cost there or what regulatory hurdles are yet ahead. Apple is reportedly hoping to launch the service before Feb. 8 and the Spring Festival.
- In other headwinds, China UnionPay holds a monopoly on credit and debit processing, while private-sector e-payments are dominated by Alibaba's Alipay, and Tencent's WeChat.
- The tech giant had launched its payment system in the UK in July, its first foray outside the U.S. At that time, it had plans in place to extend the system to China, South Korea and Canada, and has moved to Canada and Australia since the summer.