CORNELL UNIVERSITY MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICEFeb. 18, 2016 Apple Pay likely to take small bite out of Chinese market

Newswise — Apple is expanding its mobile wallet, Apple Pay, to the Chinese market. In doing so, Apple is partnering with UnionPay, one of China’s top state-owned lenders. Murillo Campello, a professor of management and finance at Johnson at Cornell University and an expert on Apple Inc., says branching out into new activities might be positive for Apple, but nothing makes Apple Pay special in the Chinese market.

Bio: www.johnson.cornell.edu/Faculty-And-Research/Profile/id/mnc35

Campello says:

“This move by Apple has been in the works for some time. It may be a positive for the company as it tries to branch out to other income generating activities. But here is the catch: What’s Apple ‘natural advantage’ over this market? Essentially, there isn’t one.

“Nothing makes Apple special in this space. Apple may be only paving the way for other companies to act on the market in just a few months. Apple gets brownie points for being able to try new things first - after all, it has tons of resources. But when the basic technology spreads and consumers are comfortable, they switch to competing firms that offer the same things at lower prices. And we know Apple is not very good at competing in the low price point space.

“While I see this as a plus and a move in the right direction - branching out into other sources of income - I fail to see how this is a niche the company is really carving for itself in the long-run.”

Rebecca ValliO: 607-255-7701M: 607-793-1025[email protected]

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