Tag: china mobile commerce

Apple and China UnionPay partner to boost mobile commerce

Apple has entered into a partnership with China UnionPay concerning a new mobile payments service. This may be a big move for Apple, who has been somewhat cautious with its participation in the mobile commerce field. Apple has been keen to avoid some of the pitfalls that its counterparts have fallen victim to with their own mobile commerce endeavors. In partnering with China UnionPay, Apple may be ready to break into the mobile payments space more aggressively.

New service to facilitate mobile payments at some 3 million locations throughout China

The new service will allow people throughout China to make payments from their iOS devices. Using the service, consumers can make payments at some 3 million “QuickPass” point-of-sale systems that are located throughout China. Apple and China UnionPay are also working together to develop a similar solution that will allow consumers to make mobile purchases in Apple’s physical retail stores operating in China.

Service made to comply with Chinese mobile commerce standards

The mobile payments service designed by the two companies complies with the standards issues by the People’s Bank of China. These standards are meant to regulate the growing mobile commerce sector throughout the country, adding stability and security for consumers and businesses alike. All mobile commerce services that are being launched in China are required to adhere to these standards but the standards themselves have been the subject of criticism among consumers and some of the country’s largest e-commerce organizations. The standards had initially placed a limit on how much money people could spend from their mobile devices, which would have significantly hindered the continued growth of mobile commerce throughout the country.

Apple is growing bolder with its mobile plans

Apple is growing more cavalier with its interests in the mobile payments space. The company has been eager to avoid the problems that currently exist in the mobile commerce market, taking time to develop solutions that circumvent these issues or solve them outright. Apple has been somewhat secretive with its plans concerning mobile commerce, but as these plans inch closer to fruition, the company may be growing bolder when it comes to mobile payments.

This new shopping service is being provided by LV.com, bringing Chinese giants together.

WeChat has now announced that it will be broadening its mobile commerce offerings through the addition of a flight booking service that will be made possible through LV.com (which was formerly called 17u.cn).

This will bring WeChat into a partnership with a company in which Tencent currently has a stake.

The payments in this mobile commerce arrangement will, of course, support WeChat Payment. A consumer will be able to not only buy his or her ticket, but will also be able to receive notifications on the flight status, in addition to other related forms of information. All that they need to do is subscribe to an official LV WeChat account.

Currently, this mobile commerce option is available only in two cities, but this is meant to grow.

At the moment, WeChat is making this smartphone service available only in two cities in China: Shenzhen and Guangzhou. This will be only a starting point for the service, but there are plans to expand it outward into other cities, later on. The company has also specified that it will be broadening the service into the other forms of online booking that are available through LV.com.

Until now, there have been a large range of different categories of smartphone shopping based offerings that have been made available through WeChat. They have used the My Brand Cards channel in order to make it possible for consumers to be able to purchase tremendous ranges of different kinds of goods and services.

The company now feels that by adding the new option of being able to book flights fits in very well with its mobile commerce brand as it has established it until now. It will also be incorporating other travel related bookings in the future, which can include making hotel reservations or booking various types of tourism services such as getting tickets for a sightseeing tour. Those are not yet a part of the shopping experience but consumers should be expecting them before too much time has passed, considering the speed at which WeChat is known to expand.