Ant Financial said on Wednesday in a statement that the partnership will enable Alipay's Ant Financial operations Alipay to become the first anywhere in the world to accept a third-party mobile payment system.And Apple's own payment system Apple Pay in China has been mediocre.
Ant Financial said Apple will accept Alipay payment at 41 physical retail stores in China, with Ant Financial taking market value to $ 60 billion in 2016.
In fact, Apple China's official website, iTunes stores and application stores have accepted Alipay payment more than a year.
In the meantime, Apple is stepping up its investment in the Chinese market and hopes to strengthen its ties with its Chinese partners and government agencies, and Apple CEO Tim Cook regularly visits China this year.
Later this month, Apple also moved user data to servers in China.
Alipay, the country's largest mobile payment platform, faces fierce competition from rival Tencent's payment system, which is embedded in Wechat, a popular chat application.
China's official Xinhua News Agency reported later on Tuesday that Apple will set up a second data center in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region after setting up a data center in southern Guizhou province last year.