外媒看中國：面對支付寶和微信，Apple心累

Dong Ximiao was buying a meal at KFC in Hangzhou on a recent Sunday and pulled out his phone to pay, like everyone does in China, when the cashier asked: “Alipay or WeChat Pay?”
最近的一個星期天，董希淼在杭州的一家肯德基就餐，然後他就像在中國的每一個人所做的那樣，拿出手機付賬，就在這時收銀員問他：“您用支付寶還是微信支付？”

The problem was, Dong wanted to use Apple Pay for the 36 yuan (RM23) bill, but the cashier told him she had never handled transactions before and wasn’t sure whether it was accepted at the fried-chicken outlet.
問題是，董先生想用蘋果支付服務來支付36元的賬單，但是收銀員告訴他，她之前從未辦過這樣的業務，而且她不確定在這家炸雞連鎖店裏能否使用蘋果支付服務。

“I knew for sure KFC stores accept it,” said Dong, 39, a researcher at Renmin University.
“我確定肯德基門店可以使用蘋果支付，”39歲的董先生說道，他是人民大學的一名研究員。

“So I ended up teaching her step-by-step how to complete the transaction, and she was surprised at how easy it was.”
“所以最後變成我一步一步地教她如何完成這筆交易，她很驚訝竟然如此簡單。”

A year after introducing its payments technology to China, Apple Inc is struggling to win share in the US$5.5tril (RM24.37tril) market, even with the backing of the country’s biggest banks and clearing network.
蘋果公司在向中國引入支付技術一年之後，特別是還有這個國家最大的幾家銀行以及網絡結算系統的支持，蘋果公司才艱難地獲得了5.5萬億美元的市場份額。

That’s partly because there are fewer iPhones, which made up just 9.6% of smartphone sales last year.
部分原因是蘋果手機的持有量較少，去年蘋果手機的銷售額僅佔智能手機銷售額的9.6%。

But mainly, consumers are far more accustomed to using Alibaba Group Holding Ltd’s affiliate Alipay and Tencent Holdings Ltd’s WeChat Pay, which have been available for several years and work on all mobile devices, including iPhones.
不過，主要原因是顧客更習慣使用阿里巴巴集團的附屬產品支付寶以及騰訊控股有限公司推出的微信支付，這兩種支付方式已推出數年，而且在蘋果手機等所有移動設備上都可以使用。

Besides, the machines required for Apple Pay are more expensive. Alipay or WeChat Pay, however, work by scanning codes, directly online or other methods, making them an easier and cheaper option for merchants to set up. Alipay and WeChat Pay were also designed so that people can send money to each other or split restaurant bills, making the apps more like cash wallets.此外，使用蘋果支付所需要的機器更貴。而支付寶或微信可以掃碼支付、直接網上支付或使用其他方式支付，對商戶而言，安裝起來更方便也更便宜。支付寶和微信支付還有專門的設計使人們可以互相轉賬或分攤就餐費用，使其應用軟件更像現金錢包。

One key factor why Apple Pay is lagging behind WeChat and Alipay: iPhones are being squeezed out by Oppo, Huawei and other Chinese smartphone brands, which have introduced high-end devices that are popular with consumers.
蘋果支付落後於微信和支付寶的一個關鍵因素就是：蘋果手機（的市場份額）正被歐珀、華爲以及中國其他智能手機品牌所壓榨，這些國產品牌推出了高端設備，備受消費者的歡迎。

“It’s very hard to change the existing landscape – not entirely impossible, but very hard,” Dong said.
“要改變現有形勢非常難，不是完全不可能，但很難，”董先生說道。

“Apple needs to fix two gaps – on one hand, it is about having more merchants accept it, especially in the smaller Chinese cities; on the other hand, it needs having more consumers choose it. Both are costly and time-consuming.
“蘋果公司需要填補兩塊空白。一方面，它要讓更多的商戶接受蘋果支付，特別是在中國的小型城市；另一方面，它需要讓更多的消費者選擇蘋果支付。兩方面都代價高昂，而且非常耗時。”