Apple Pay Launching In India! Will Integrate With Digital Payments Service

Though Apple has came a long way in India, one of their most popular features available on iOS was missing from Apple devices, Apple Pay. It is not yet available in India. But, Apple has already begun testing their Apple Pay service in India and are set to launch their payment service in India by the end of 2017.

Bringing Apple Pay to the country seems to be the logical next step for Apple as a part of their expansion plans in India. They have already rolled out Apple Music and other Apple related services in India. Considering their popularity and market share in the top-end smartphone segment, the step seems very strategical.

Integration of Digital Payments Service

With Apple Pay, the technology major will integrate their platform with digital payments service. The company is working to build a new payments solution for their Apple Pay service in India from scratch. Apple has plans to include India’s ongoing technological revolution where the digital payments business in the country has been ramping up at a high rate.

Partnership With Local Retailers And Merchants

Apple is in talks with several merchants and retailers to integrate them into their payment service platform. According to sources, the company is already in talks with Starbucks and Croma stores, and banks like HDFC Bank, Standard Chartered and Citibank to make their hardware compatible with the contact-less payments service of Apple Pay.

Apple’s Production Unit In India

The company initially produced their first batch of ‘Made In India’ iPhone SE models at their Bengaluru unit, and has already started shipping them to local customers. The phones are being manufactured by Wistron, a Taiwanese OEM for Apple.

How Does Apple Pay Work?

The Apple Pay will securely save all your credit cards and debit cards along with other sensitive payment credentials. It also includes your credentials and and other information from your wallet apps. Apple Pay lets the user pay for purchases directly from their mobile device. But the merchant needs to have Apple Pay compatible POS hardware to accept contact-less payments.

Apple Pay In India

For Apple Pay to work, the merchants needs to have a card swipe machine which is compatible with Apple Pay and can accept contact-less payments like Samsung Pay. During a transaction, the user needs to authenticate it via TouchID or FaceID to authorize the payment. Once it is authenticated, the payment will be successful and confirmed on your Apple device.

Samsung Pay vs. Apple Pay

The South Korean major Samsung has already launched their payments service Samsung Pay in the country and it works similarly to Apple Pay. The only difference is, for Apple Pay to work, the merchant needs a compatible contact-less POS machine and Samsung Pay works with existing payment machines. It gives Samsung Pay a considerable advantage over Apple’s solution.

PayTM Leads The Way

There are several online payment apps like PayTM, Mobikwik, Freecharge, Oxigen Wallet and others who allow their users to make cardless payments directly through their app. PayTM tops the list when it comes to online payments via a wallet or app. But, you need to top up your PayTM balance before you can make a transaction. In the case of Samsung Pay or Apple’s payment service, you can transact directly from their credit or debit card.

Google Tez, Amazon Pay and WhatsApp’s UPI Integration

Google have recently launched Google Tez, their payment services app in the country. While Amazon is gaining popularity with Amazon Pay, and it has plans to expand their service in the coming months and Facebook owned WhatsApp is all set to add their support for UPI payments on their messaging platform.

Apple has big plans for more retail outlets, selling more pre-owned devices, local investments and developing India-centric features on IOS for India. Being India’s second largest premium smartphone maker, their payment service integration might push more customers towards Apple products.