Apple CEO Tim Cook said Apple's new mobile payment system had over 1 million activations in the first three days after it became available, and is now more widely used than any competing payment system. And also on Monday at the, The Wall Street Journal global tech conference, both Alibaba CEO Jack Ma and Apple CEO Tim Cook talked hopefully about potential partnerships, although he offered no details.

Alibaba affiliate Alipay is China’s largest payments service, while Apple just this month debuted its own version of a mobile wallet, letting iPhone 6 users make payments at retailers with their smartphones.

Apple Pay will now allow shoppers to buy items at more than 220,000 stores or inside apps using an iPhone and thumbprint. Participants in the Apple Pay service include McDonald's, Whole Foods and Walgreen etc.

The Apple Pay payment system works with Touch ID authentication and NFC to complete the process. As yet, Apple Pay supports credit and debit cards from American Express, MasterCard and Visa, issued by banks including Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, Citi and Wells Fargo, representing 83 percent of credit card purchase volume in the US.

Apple CEO Tim Cook also touted the upcoming release of an Apple smartwatch and dropped broad hints about Apple's work on a new television product, which has been rumored for years.

Today's televisions haven't advanced much technologically in the last 30 years, Cook said. "So I think there's a lot to be done here."