Apple Pay, a mobile payment and digital wallet service provided by Apple Inc, will soon be available in Taiwan, the US technology giant said on its Web site yesterday.
People will be able to use iPhones and Apple Watches equipped with Touch ID fingerprint authentication to make payments, the Web site said, but did not give an exact date for when the service would start.
Shoppers would simply need to place a finger on the Touch ID sensor and hold their iPhone within 2.54cm of contactless readers at stores to make a purchase, it added.
When using an Apple Watch, buyers would need to double-click the side button and hold the display within 2.54cm of a contactless reader, then wait for a gentle tap that signals completion of the transaction, the Web site said.
Apple said seven banks are to be part of the launch of the Apple Pay service in Taiwan: Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行), CTBC Bank (中國信託銀行), E.Sun Commercial Bank (玉山銀行), Standard Chartered Bank, Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank (台北富邦銀行), Taishin International Bank (台新銀行) and Union Bank of Taiwan (聯邦銀行).
Apple Pay was introduced to a number of markets worldwide in September 2014, allowing contactless payments via iOS apps.
Taiwan is to become the 14th region in which Apple Pay is available, after the US, Britain, Canada, Hong Kong, Australia, China, France, Russia, Switzerland, New Zealand, Spain, Singapore and Japan, Apple said.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
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