不论出于巧合还是精心筹划，蒂姆•库克选择的时机都再好不过。蒂姆•库克支持客户隐私的立场，对苹果支付产生了推动作用，尽管其远远落后于竞争对手支付宝。

上周二，苹果公司CEO蒂姆•库克拒绝了美国联邦法院要求苹果公司破解一名恐怖分子的iPhone手机的命令。

一位忠实读者Jake_in_Soul在评论中这样写道：

“蒂姆•库克的做法（我完全支持）引起了韩国和中国媒体极大的兴趣和认可，而且东亚高科技公司的态度一贯较为软弱，因此此举大幅提高了苹果公司的信誉。巧合的是，今天也是苹果支付（Apple Pay）登陆中国（我目前正在中国）的日期，引发了媒体的大肆宣扬。蒂姆•库克支持客户隐私的立场，对苹果支付产生了推动作用，尽管其远远落后于竞争对手支付宝。”

这是杰克的直接体会。我对此事的了解大部分来自WestEnd511在Seeking Alpha网站上发表的文章《苹果支付在中国：见光死》。据我所知，支付宝（Alipay）和微信支付（WePay）有超过6亿用户，并且占有80%的市场份额，它们对中国市场有着深远而又广泛的影响力。

例如，支持微信支付的包括：“30,000家超市，1,500家百货商店，50,000家便利店和500家购物中心，支持使用微信支付进行零售消费。此外，还有80,000家餐厅、咖啡店和快速服务餐厅，400,000个停车场，3,000座加油站，440,000台自动机票购票机，1,000家公共交通售票点，医院，20,000家药店和26家快递运营商均支持微信支付。”

WestEnd511总结道，苹果唯一的机会是与中国银联（UnionPay）合作。中国银联已经发行了45亿张银行卡和信用卡，并且几乎控制了中国所有自动提款机。

苹果表示，中国的部分商户，如7-11、肯德基（KFC）、麦当劳（McDonald’s）和汉堡王（Burger King）等，均已经接受苹果支付。热门购物引用京东（JD.com）预计也将很快支持苹果支付。

但要想吸引消费者开始使用苹果支付服务，苹果公司面临一个巨大的挑战。在移动支付领域，中国市场竞争激烈。从阿里巴巴（Alibaba）分拆出的蚂蚁金服（Ant Financial）运营的移动钱包支付宝，在中国有4亿用户。腾讯（Tencent）也提供移动钱包服务财付通（Tenpay）。据研究公司易观智库（Analysys）统计，在中国移动支付市场，支付宝所占的份额约为45%，而腾讯的份额约为19%。（财富中文网）

译者：刘进龙/汪皓

On Wednesday, the day after Apple CEO Tim Cookchallenged a U.S. federal court order to hack into a terrorist’s iPhone, longtime reader Jake_in_Soul posted this note in my comment stream:

“Tim Cook’s action (which I support completely) is garnering much interest and approbation in the South Korean and Chinese press, and redounds greatly to Apple’s credit given the generally craven position of hi-tech companies here in East Asia. Coincidentally, this is the day that Apple Pay launches in China (where I currently am) with great press fanfare. Tim Cook’s stand in favor of customers’ privacy should give Apple Pay a boost, although it starts far behind rival AliPay.”

Jake knows this stuff first-hand. Most of what I know I learned yesterday from reading WestEnd511’s Apple Pay In China: Dead On Arrival at Seeking Alpha. I learned thatAlipay and WePay, with more than 600 million users and 80% of the market between them, have spread their tendrils deep and wide. WePay.

For example, is accepted at: “30,000 supermarkets, 1,500 department stores, 50,000 convenient stores and 500 shopping malls for typical retail spending. There are an additional 80,000 restaurants, cafes and QSRs, 400,000 parking lots, 3,000 gas stations, 440,000 automated air ticketing machine, 1,000 transit ticket sellers, hospitals, 20,000 pharmacies and 26 postal carriers where WePay is accepted.”

Apple’s only chance, WestEnd511 concludes, is to team up with UnionPay, which has issued 4.5 billion bank and credit cards, and controls every cash machine in China.

Apple said that some merchants Chinese locations, including 7-Eleven, KFC, McDonald’sand Burger King, are already accepting Apple Pay. Popular shopping app JD.com is expected to add support for Apple Pay in the near future.

However, Apple has a challenge ahead in enticing consumers to start using its services. China is a very competitive battleground when it comes to mobile payments. Alipay, a mobile wallet operated by Alibaba spinoff Ant Financial, has 400 million users in China. Tencent also offers a mobile wallet called Tenpay. According to research firm Analysys, Alipay’s share of the mobile payments market in China was around 45%, with Tenpay commanding nearly 19%.