Apple adopts yuan for online payment

BEIJING / SHANGHAI - Apple Inc's online store has started accepting payments made in Chinese yuan, to gain a further foothold in the world's biggest Internet market.

The App Store, which sells software applications for devices such as the iPhone and iPad, started accepting the currency last week in an unannounced move.

"The service has been there since last Friday. It's really good news for our customers and local application developers," said a spokeswoman for Apple China, but she declined to comment on the timing of the move.