The launch of Apple Pay in South Korea has been delayed as regulators have to review the terms and conditions of the service before its official rollout. The service is now expected to launch in late December or next year in early January.
Apple Pay’s launch in South Korea pushed back to late December or early January 2023
South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service is looking into the terms and conditions of Apple Pay before it can be launched in the region. As reported on the South Korean online platform Naver, the Financial Supervisory Service said, “The terms and conditions have been repaired,” however, “there is something to look into separately, so we are discussing additionally with the department in charge.”
Even though the launch of the service has been delayed, customers do not have to worry. It is still on track to be rolled out in late December or early January 2023.
Naver reports that Apple Pay in South Korea will be supported by Hyundai Card as the sole service provider at launch. As of right now, it is unclear if the service will exclusively be supported by Hyundai Card or if Apple will launch other compatible cards in the region as well.
The post goes on to note that although Apple’s payment service ranks second globally in terms of payment amount, it may not be popular in South Korea.
The demand group is limited to ‘iPhone Hyundai card users’, and many merchants cannot use it. According to global market research firm StatCounter, Samsung had a 58.4 % share of the domestic smartphone market as of the end of September , and Apple’s 34.1 % share. All. In Korea, 3 out of 10 people are iPhone users with Apple Pay.
In addition to this, most domestic card merchants in the region used the MST (Magnetic Secure Transmission) method or the IC (Integrated Circuit Smart Card) method. Apple Pay’s competition in South Korea, Samsung Pay, supports both MST and NFC payment methods. On the other hand, Apple’s service only supports the MV international payment standard by Europay, Mastercard, and Visa.
It is estimated that less than 80,000 of the approximately 3 million affiliated stores in Korea are equipped with NFC payment devices. The credit industry believes that fewer of them are eligible for EMV support.
Since the cost of installing an NFC terminal is high, especially for small merchants, Apple Pay might not be able to flourish in South Korea at launch.
Read more:
