If you are chomping at the bit to get your products into China, I understand. And for those who need a little bit of prodding, think about this.

Yesterday, November 11, or 11/11 was Singles Day in China (anti-Valentine's day or bachelors day). It is reportedly the world's largest, annual online shopping day, topping the U.S. Cyber Monday and Black Friday. Xiaomi, a Chinese mobile phone brand demonstrated how big a shopping day China's Singles Day really is. Xiaomi mobile phones eclipsed Apple, Samsung, and Lenova in one day.

By midday, Xiaomi had sold 720,000 phones, 250,000 of which being the flagship Mi4 smartphone, retailing for around $300.

Hugo Barra, the former Google executive in charge of Android and who now runs Xiaomi, posted on his Twitter account that Xiaomi sold 1.16 million Mi series mobile devices within a 24-hour period. At the end of the day, Xiaomi pulled in $254 million in total sales.

Wow!

It's time to get your China strategy in gear, and India, too, as Xiaomi is moving into India, the world's largest democratic country.

If you are waiting with bated breath to use Apple Pay, your wait is almost over.

According to MacRumors, an internal memo addressed to Walgreens employees preparing them for the upcoming launch of Apple Pay suggests that Apple's new payments service might be going live on Saturday, October 18.

Saturday does seem strange for a launch event, but since it is a shopping app, perhaps a Saturday makes sense.

In part, the internal memo reads: "In preparation for the launch of Apple Pay on October 18, we would like you to cover the following material," the memo states. "Walgreens will be one of the participating retailers and we want to make sure that all your team members are prepared..."

UPDATE: However, although signs pointed to Saturday, October 18 for an Apple Pay launch at Walgreens, Saturday seemed a bit strange to us. So after the Columbus Day holiday, we found a store manager at a Walgreens in Long Island, NY who clarified the date of the Apple Pay launch. As it turns out, Saturday, October 18 will be the start of a live test run before the actual launch on Monday, October 20. Unfortunately for the folks that shop at the Walgreens-owned DUANEreade in New York City, we didn't get a definitive answer regarding whether you could use Apple Pay at DUANEreade on October 20.

Walgreens isn't the only retailer on the Apple Pay roll-out. Other merchants on the mobile payments system rollout schedule include: Macy's, McDonald's, Bloomingdale's, Disney Store, Walt Disney World Resort, Sephora, Staples, Subway, and Whole Foods Market. Stay tuned for rollout dates.

Now, tell us, hoopla aside, do you plan to use Apple Pay when it becomes available?