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Ironically, Apple’s tech wizardry may be its achilles heel in China. The technology Alibaba and Tencent use for in-store payments is decidedly lo-fi. Alibaba utilizes sound-wave transfers and barcodes, while Tencent requires vendors to scan QR codes. This easy technology helps reduce the barrier to adoption among consumers, regardless of what type of phone they carry. Apple’s reliance on NFC therefore means Chinese merchants must accept yet another form of payment processing. That might be too much of a hassle. A more likely scenario involves Alibaba and Tencent rushing to get on the NFC bandwagon following Apple’s signal. Alipay Wallet and WeChat payments would add NFC functionality in their apps alongside the usual payment methods, and will continue to provide compatible processing equipment to retailers for little or no cost. This will help Apple catch up technology-wise as a latecomer. But smartphone manufacturers are likely to jump on the NFC bandwagon even more quickly than Alibaba or Tencent. More phones will feature NFC, and more phones will have Alipay Wallet and WeChat on them. Through those apps, Alibaba and Tencent can push more promotions and deals to their customers. With no ecommerce legacy and no cross-platform social app to fall back on, Tim Cook and his team have some stiff competition in China.

The Apple gravitational pull is real, for sure. But in the case of Apple Pay in China, it just might not pull towards Apple.