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Mobile e-payment weakest link

Updated: 2011-06-03 11:08

By Shen Jingting (China Daily)

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Mobile e-payment weakest link

Alipay.com Co Ltd, an affiliate of Alibaba Group that runs China's biggest online payment platform, aims to expand its business to mobile Internet once it establishes a dominant position for online payment on the Internet.

Alipay cooperated with UCWeb to allow users to complete payments with UCWeb's mobile Internet browser, since browsers are typically viewed as the entry point for people surfing mobile Internet.

"The service is safe and convenient. What's more, online buyers have no need to enter a password when the transaction involves less than 200 yuan," said Stephen Zhu, general manager of Alipay.com's mobile payment department.

By March 2011, UCWeb had more than 200 million users worldwide, and was achieving 70 billion page views a month, the most among mobile device browsers.

Alipay has more than 550 million registered users and a daily transaction volume of 11 million worth a total of 2.6 billion yuan, according to Peng Lei, chief executive officer of Alipay.com.

Alipay holds more than 50 percent of the market for third-party payment, according to a report from Analysys International.

Related readings:
Mobile e-payment weakest link Mobile payment market hurt by weak demand
Mobile e-payment weakest link China unveils guidelines for online payment service
Mobile e-payment weakest link Yahoo, Alibaba reach deal over Alipay
Mobile e-payment weakest link Google to unveil mobile payments Thursday

However, China's three telecom operators have adopted aggressive plans to compete in the mobile payment industry.

China Mobile Ltd, the world's biggest telecom carrier by subscribers, bought a 20 percent stake of Shanghai Pudong Development Bank last year to strengthen its mobile payment services for its 600.8 million customers.

China Unicom Ltd established a mobile payment company on April 18 with registered capital of 250 million yuan, the carrier said on its micro blog.

The new company will "actively apply for a mobile payment license and provide professional payment services", China Unicom said.

The smallest operator, China Telecom Corp Ltd, launched a mobile payment branch at the start of this year, Chinese media reported.

Financial institutions, such as China Merchants Bank Co Ltd, China Everbright Bank Co Ltd and Bank of Communications Co Ltd, have also joined the competition.

"I am glad to see everyone is interested in mobile payment. But for me, I hope to get access to tangible services soon, instead of listening to hollow words," said Zhang Xiaowei at mmb.cn.

 

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