Here’s what you should know today:
1. Apple continues to push Apple Pay in China
Apple is launching a large-scale promotion by offering special discounts for consumers who use its mobile payment method in mainland China, where the landscape are currently dominated by rival Alipay and WeChat Pay.
Between July 18 and 24, consumers using Apple Pay will get discounts of up to 50% and as much as 50 times of reward points for credit cards, according to Apple’s official Chinese website.
There are a total of 28 offline retail stores and 16 online merchants participated, including 7-Eleven, Starbucks, bike-sharing app Mobike, as well as JD.com. The campaign is part of Apple strategy to wins market share in China.
However, it is hard to say how well will they fare since unlike Alipay and WeChat Pay that could be installed in every smartphone, Apple Pay is limited by device availability.
Read the full story here.
2. Bank Indonesia published a new regulation for National Payment Gateway
Central Bank of Indonesia published a new national payment gateway regulation in a bid to provide an efficient and secure payment system for banking customers in the country.
The regulation seeks to make transactions easier and cheaper for banking customers by allowing all electric money, debit and credit cards of any issuers to be accepted at any automatic teller machine, electronic data capture device or payment gateway in the archipelago once the regulation is fully implemented.
There are currently hundreds of debit card issuers, 26 credit card issuers and 25 electronic money issuers in Indonesia, with most of them being local players. According to the new regulation, foreign principals need to work with local switching companies.
Other countries that has implemented the system including China (with China Union Pay), Malaysia (MyCard) and Japan (JCB). However, it will be awhile to integrate the system nationwide in Indonesia due to its big population.
Read the full story here.
3. Blue Apron shares fall as Amazon file for meal-kit trademark
Blue Apron shares tumbled more than 11% to $6.51, nearly 35% since its IPO price of $10. The decline came as investors were concerned about its future and the impact of Amazon’s planned $13.7 billion acquisition of supermarket chain Whole Foods.
In a filing with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Amazon registered a trademark application for “prepared food kits composed of meat, poultry, fish, seafood, fruit and/or vegetables” that is ready for cooking and assembly as a meal. Amazon’s planned service is identical to the one currently offered by Blue Apron.
Last week, startup offering similar service in Jakarta, BlackGarlic, has just closed down due to the high customer acquisitions cost.
Read the full story here.