NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – Apple today finally launched its Octopus transit payments service in Hong Kong on Apple Pay, nearly a year after the service was originally announced and more than two years after rival Samsung introduced a similar service in the market.
The long overdue service helps Octopus Cards Ltd. to further its years’ long effort of encouraging more riders to tap to pay with their mobile devices. Around 95% of Hong Kong residents already carry the near ubiquitous Octopus card, which users can tap to pay for rides on Hong Kong trains, buses and ferries, in addition to 35,000 retail and other outlets that accept Octopus.
Apple has enabled its Express Transit feature for Octopus, which lets users avoid using Touch ID or other authentication methods as they approach readers, and extends the device’s battery power to ensure users have enough juice to complete their rides. Apple has only enabled a subset of the transit payments services it supports in Apple Pay–both closed-loop and open-loop–with Express Transit, including those in Japan, mainland China, New York City and London.
