这几乎是稳赚不赔的买卖，因为中国的几百万iPhone用户中，几乎人人都有银联（UnionPay）信用卡或借记卡。银联不仅是中国最大的，，也是唯一的银行卡清算组织，在全球范围内已经发行了超过45亿张银行卡。

    北京时间本周一上午，苹果（Apple）宣布已和中国银联达成协议，银联卡用户在中国的苹果应用商店（App Store）购买商品和服务将更加方便。中国已是苹果应用下载的第二大市场。

    此前，中国用户购买苹果应用需要经过三个繁琐步骤：选择银行、设定在线密码、至少在苹果账户中预充值50元人民币。而如今，他们可以将苹果账户和银联卡关联，实现“一键购买”。苹果已经记录了数亿个信用卡号码，新协议让这家公司得以进入规模达数十亿的中国市场。

    苹果的新闻稿中没有提及的一点是，散落在中国上千个大小城市的银联快捷支付（QuickPay）网点是否将支持苹果支付（Apple Pay）。

    在苹果推出这款无缝支付系统两天后，也就是9月11日，中国商业媒体财新网（Caixin Online）曾报道，据传苹果支付和银联的谈判陷入了僵局。

    到目前为止，只有内置近场通信（NFC）信号发送器的iPhone 6和iPhone 6 Plus才能使用苹果支付功能。这些产品在北京卖得十分火爆。中国对iPhone 6Plus的需求尤其强烈，甚至在发布三个多月后的现在，中国黄牛每天早晨还是会在美国的苹果商店前排着长队，购买当天的供货。

    你几乎可以察觉到，蒂姆•库克的中国战略正在渐入佳境。（财富中文网）

    译者：严匡正

    It’s a pretty safe bet that nearly every Chinese iPhone owner — and there could be a couple hundred million — also has a UnionPay credit or debit card. China UnionPay isn’t just the biggest bank card company in China, it’s the only Chinese bank card, with more than 4.5 billion cards issued worldwide.

    On Monday morning (Beijing time), Apple announced that it had struck a deal that will make it easier for UnionPay card holders to buy goods and services on Apple’s App Store in China — the company’s second largest market for app downloads.

    Rather than clicking through a cumbersome three-step process — selecting a bank, setting up an online password, and depositing a minimum of roughly $8 in a prepaid account — just to buy an app, Chinese customers can now link their Apple ID with their UnionPay card for what Apple describes as “one-tap purchases.” Apple already has hundreds of millions of credit card numbers on file. This deal gives it access to an addressable market measured in billions.

    What Apple’s press release didn’t say is whether Apple Pay will be accepted at the QuickPay kiosks UnionPay has been deploying in thousands of Chinese cities and town.

    A rumor that an Apple Pay/UnionPay deal had been struck surfaced on China’s Caixon Online on Sept. 11, two days after Apple’s friction-free payment system was unveiled.

    So far, only the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, with their built-in NFC transmitters, will work with Apple Pay. But those devices are selling like hot steamed buns in Beijing. Chinese demand for the iPhone 6 Plus in particular is so high in that even today, more than three months after it was released, Chinese resellers are lining up every morning outside Apple Stores in U.S. cities to buy that day’s supply.

    You can almost feel Tim Cook’s China strategy falling into place.