Alibaba, Apple may partner on payment

Beijing, China –- Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Apple Inc. are reportedly considering partnering on digital payment. According to the Wall street Journal, Alibaba executive chairman Jack Ma and Apple CEO Tim Cook have both made separate public statements about partnering, with Ma more specifically citing digital payment, and plan to meet on the matter.



By combining Alibaba’s Alipay online payment service with Apple’s Apple Pay mobile payment application, Alibaba could enable Chinese consumers to pay for brick-and-mortar purchases with access to Apple Pay via their Alipay account. Currently, to make a brick-and-mortar purchase, Alipay users must scan QR codes and have their payment data transmitted through a complex system using soundwaves.



Benefits for Alibaba would include capture of a greater share of Chinese brick-and-mortar payments, as well as access to Apple’s rich trove of data on brick-and-mortar purchases and behavior. Apple, in turn, would gain instant access to the large Chinese brick-and-mortar payment market, which does not yet accept ApplePay.



Possible obstacles to such an alliance include Chinese regulators, as well as the possibility Apple may instead choose to pursue a partnership with the state-run Chinese payment service China UnionPayCo.