Note: Taobao and Alipay now work on Mac Safari.
Further to my previous post on Apple Mac alipay / taobao support, it turns out there is now a way to make online purchases in China using a Macintosh computer. Using China Merchants Bank and a WAP enabled mobile phone, it’s possible to action a payment without the need for browser restrictions or installing pointless plugins.
Prerequisites:
- You will need an account with China Merchants Bank and have activated online banking. Unfortunately there is currently no English version. Furthermore you must have a mobile phone number registered, activated online payments, and raised your payment limit beyond zero.
- GPRS / WAP activated mobile phone. Through the payment process, you will be sent an SMS containing a link. Click through to confirm your purchase with your PIN code on the resulting webpage opened on your phone.
Procedure:
At checkout, you will have a selection of banks to choose from. In some cases, you may need to first select payment gateway. Pictured is Alipay’s (支付宝) bank selection page. If shopping outside of Taobao, selection of payment gateway will usually result in a new window redirected to the payment gateway. Of course, you must select Merchant’s Bank here followed by, in this case, the big yellow button below.- Typically a second page by the payment gateway will simply confirm your bank choice. If no problems, click to proceed.
You should then be redirected to China Merchants Bank payment screen. Note the third tab on the right (手机支付) – this does not require any plugins, and therefore works on the Mac. If you are already registered for this service, choose between Credit (信用卡) or Debit card (一卡通), enter your registered cellphone number (手机号码), the last four digits of your card (卡号后四位) and finally the code displayed on that page. 确定 to submit.
You will receive an SMS with a URL. Click through to access payment screen on your mobile – this should work both with a smartphone browser, and WAP. You will need to enter your online payment PIN (支付密码) and captcha shown (验证码). Upon confirming, payment will be completed if there are no problems. Look for the words 支付成功.
Realistically, this is still too complicated if you don’t read any Chinese. However, for existing online banking users who wish to pay using a Mac: once setup, this should be a breeze.
To adjust your online payment limit, login to Merchants Bank Online Banking (on a Windows PC, unfortunately) then find “网上支付” -> “一卡通支付额度管理”. Here you can enter a new limit.
Your mobile number record can be found at “网上支付” -> “一卡通支付联系信息修改”
If you have not yet registered for Merchants Bank Online Banking, you must do so at any bank branch.
苹果用户一直以来在国内互联网领域里都是二等居民，很多网站无法浏览无法正常使用，最大问题在于网上银行及支付功能上。到目前为止大多数国内网银必需下载安装银行提供的软件，一般只支持 IE 而只支持微软 Windows 系统。其实，国内网银搞得复杂是没有必要的，在国外包括香港网银大部分只需通过普通用户名及密码进行登录就足够了，特别软件需求是多余的。
在中国大陆的苹果用户现在终于有途径进行网上购物啦！所有招行用户如开通了一卡通手机支付功能可通过手机验证确认支付。流程简单：只需先选用招行支付，然后在招行弹出的窗口内点击手机支付。最后把您注册的手机号输入，加上招卡后四位和显示的验证码输入提交就可进行手机支付，苹果电脑无需要安装任何插件。当你手机收到招行短信后点击短信内的连接，再通过手机输入注册的支付密码确认支付。
虽然此方式不能全算是苹果电脑支持，但起码大陆苹果用户终于有途径支付了。
注意：使用手机支付必需提前开通网上支付功能并调好足够的支付额度。招行专业版支付额度和一卡通额度是分开的，你可通过招行网银“网上支付”目录找出“一卡通支付额度管理”调整额度。
如需修改注册手机号可点击 “网上支付” -> “一卡通支付联系信息修改” 调整
详细流程可参考本博客英文文章。
Prices have now been released for the Apple iPhone 3G and 3GS which began sale in China this month with China Unicom. The sales model will be similar to that in Hong Kong, whereby the phone is sold cheaply with an additional prepayment for mobile service.
This is alongside updated pricing plans (linked tariff for non-iPhone users), promising greater data quota’s than previous packages and China Mobile’s current offerings. The higher the service plan used, the cheaper the iPhone is sold for. This offer requires a 24 month service commitment.
Details of pricing and service plans available on China Unicom Online Store (or in English via Google Translate). There are slight differences over the standard packages, notably increased data quota and free SMS bundles.
Note: Chinese iPhones have WiFi disabled, but are not carrier locked. For a full featured unlocked phone, consider purchasing from Apple Store Hong Kong. Or wait for a WAPI/WiFi release in China.
Having got my new China Unicom WCDMA 3G number, I was somewhat confused that (a) data service worked through my China Mobile settings (b) it didn’t work using the settings Unicom customer service provided, and (c) I found yet another set of settings that can be used.
Whilst I still don’t know why the above is true, I found the following:
1) Use China Mobile settings (APN: CMNET) for GPRS / 3G Data with no proxy works fine. MMS should be received using WAP profile (APN: CMWAP , MMSC: http://mmsc.monternet.com , Gateway or Proxy: 10.0.0.172. Port 80 for HTTP, port 9201 for WAP)
I don’t know if this is just compatibility, or a problem with China Mobile’s network.
2) The settings Unicom customer service now provide will only work through a proxy.
GPRS APN: 3gwap
WAP APN: 3gnet
- for both must set proxy through 10.0.0.172 . These settings provide support for web (HTTP) traffic only.
3) Older data suggests to use:
GPRS APN: uninet
WAP APN: uniwap
MMSC: mmsc.myuni.com.cn
- I use this and it works. No proxy needed for GPRS ; but use 10.0.0.172 (as above) for MMS. Works across all protocols (MSN, FTP etc…) unlike 3G settings.
Therefore if you have a China Unicom 3G card and have been given the new settings, don’t bother. It’s just more complicated, and using 3gwap non-HTTP based services will not work.
Note: I’ve subsequently discovered this site claiming that for certain applications like Mobile Television you must use the 3G settings. I haven’t tested.
