Apple is now accepting Wechat Pay for payments made in its Apple App Store and iTunes in China after it previously accepted Alibaba’s Alipay as a mobile payment option. This will likely drive up the tech giant’s revenues in the country from in-store and music spending, reports China Money Network.
“We are glad to offer users in mainland China the option of WeChat Pay for their favorite mobile app or Apple Music products. We continue to be dedicated to provide multiple simple and convenient payment methods for customers within the Apple ecosystem,” Apple said in a statement.
China Money Network says the Cupertino, California-based company didn’t have a lot of good options. Nearly 20 months after entering the Chinese markets, Apple Pay only has around 1% of the Chinese third-party mobile payment market.
Alipay and WeChat Pay are digital services that dominate consumer spending in China. Alipay, which is managed by Alibaba affiliate firm Ant Financial, counts over 500 million users, while WeChat Pay — the digital payment feature within China’s top chat app WeChat — claims more than 600 million users.
