Alibaba looking to partner with Apple over payments processing in China

November 12, 2014

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Alibaba Executive Vice Chairman Joseph Tsai revealed that the Chinese e-commerce giant was currently in discussion with Apple over a payment processing solution tailored for China. According to Tsai:

Right now, I think what we can say is that this is focused on the China market for Apple. We are positive about the potential cooperation, but it depends on the details being worked out.

At the WSLD Live conference last month, Tim Cook mentioned that he was interested in working with Alibaba, a sentiment shared by the retailer's founder Jack Ma.

The partnership between the two companies would likely result in the integration of Alipay, Alibaba's electronic payments service, with Apple Pay. Such a deal would allow iPhone users in China to pay using Apple Pay, with Alibaba's systems handling the back-end services. The details between the collaboration are still being worked out, and should be finalized over the coming months.

Source: The Wall Street Journal