Apple is planning to introduce Apple Pay to the Chinese market as early as February. The move is expected to intensify competition in China's mobile payments market, so ICS reporter Xu Xinchen spoke with AliPay and WeChat Wallet users about their thoughts.
With no cash or cards on me, I pulled out my smartphone and let the waitress scan my AliPay. I got my coffee seconds later. While in some other stores, it's a simple click away that I can use my WeChat wallet to purchase stuff.
Over 300 million people in China are using mobile payment apps, according to a recent report. People we spoke to on the street shared their preferences about the various mobile payment options.
WeChat Wallet is more popular as people can chat and pay on one single app. There's no need for other apps.
Shanghai is the third-biggest market in the country in terms of using mobile payment apps. Business owners also like the convenience.
"We don't have to worry about change when our customers use mobile payment apps," said Niu Xuenian of Taste & See.
However, neither AliPay nor WeChat Wallet is perfect.
"When you are underground and the signal is bad, mobile payments are not effective. The technology still needs to improve, but young people definitely find it easier to use compared with older folks,"said Zhou Quan.
China's mobile payment market continues to grow with transactions worth over 370 billion dollars in the third quarter of this year, a 13% increase from the previous 3-month period. Other people we talked to on the street said they use different mobile payment options due to the promotions offered and that they would be willing to try Apple Pay as long as it's secure.
