Hong Kong’s tepid mobile payments market may have received its biggest boost to date, after Apple Pay was rolled out on Wednesday to eligible cardholders of American Express, Visa and MasterCard.
The city is the third major market in the Asia-Pacific where the contactless mobile payment service, introduced by Apple about 20 months ago, has been launched this year, following mainland China and Singapore.
“In Hong Kong, contactless payments have become a necessity for everyday life, ” Caroline Ada, Visa’s country manager for Hong Kong and Macau, told the South China Morning Post.
“We expect the number of contactless payments to grow even further, driven by savvy Hong Kong consumers’ willingness to adopt new mobile technology like Apple Pay.”
There are an estimated 10,000 merchant locations in Hong Kong that accept Apple Pay, and more than 10 million in all nine major markets where the service has launched so far.
Apple Pay uses so-called near-field communications technology built into iPhones and Apple Watch to allow for contactless payment in stores, which have the contactless point-of-sale terminals to support the service.
It can also be used to pay for purchases made within mobile apps on the iPhone and iPad.
Participating banks in the city include Standard Chartered, DBS, Hang Seng Bank, HSBC, Bank of East Asia and BOC Credit Card, a subsidiary of Bank of China (Hong Kong).
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(Source: SCMP)