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?”

最近的一个星期天，董希淼在杭州的一家肯德基就餐，然后他就像在中国的每一个人所做的那样，拿出手机付账，就在这时收银员问他：“您用支付宝还是微信支付？”

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 outlet¹.

问题是，董先生想用苹果支付服务来支付36元的账单，但是收银员告诉他，她之前从未办过这样的业务，而且她不确定在这家炸鸡连锁店里能否使用苹果支付服务。

“I knew for sure KFC stores accept it,” said Dong, 39, a researcher at Renmin University.

“我确定肯德基门店可以使用苹果支付，”39岁的董先生说道，他是人民大学的一名研究员。

“So I ended up teaching her step-by-step how to complete the transaction, and she was surprised at how easy it was.”

“所以最后变成我一步一步地教她如何完成这笔交易，她很惊讶竟然如此简单。”

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.

苹果公司在向中国引入支付技术一年之后，特别是还有这个国家最大的几家银行以及网络结算系统的支持，苹果公司才艰难地获得了5.5万亿美元的市场份额。

That’s partly because there are fewer iPhones, which made up just 9.6% of smartphone sales last year.

部分原因是苹果手机的持有量较少，去年苹果手机的销售额仅占智能手机销售额的9.6%。

But mainly, consumers are far more accustomed to using Alibaba Group Holding Ltd’s affiliate² Alipay and Tencent Holdings Ltd’s WeChat Pay, which have been available for several years and work on all mobile devices, including iPhones.

不过，主要原因是顾客更习惯使用阿里巴巴集团的附属产品支付宝以及腾讯控股有限公司推出的微信支付，这两种支付方式已推出数年，而且在苹果手机等所有移动设备上都可以使用。

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，使用苹果支付所需要的机器更贵。而支付宝或微信可以扫码支付、直接网上支付或使用其他方式支付，对商户而言，安装起来更方便也更便宜。支付宝和微信支付还有专门的设计使人们可以互相转账或分摊就餐费用，使其应用软件更像现金钱包。

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.

苹果支付落后于微信和支付宝的一个关键因素就是：苹果手机（的市场份额）正被欧珀、华为以及中国其他智能手机品牌所压榨，这些国产品牌推出了高端设备，备受消费者的欢迎。

“It’s very hard to change the existing landscape – not entirely³ impossible, but very hard,” Dong said.

“要改变现有形势非常难，不是完全不可能，但很难，”董先生说道。

“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 costly⁴ and time-consuming.

“苹果公司需要填补两块空白。一方面，它要让更多的商户接受苹果支付，特别是在中国的小型城市；另一方面，它需要让更多的消费者选择苹果支付。两方面都代价高昂，而且非常耗时。”