1. Mobile e-commerce battle heats up in China
Rivalry between Tencent and Alibaba intensifies after they roll out new products on the same day to tap
the mainland's US$395 billion market
8.
August
From
South
China
Morning
Post:
In
the
past
week,
the
two
internet
giants
Tencent
and
Alibaba
launched
new
products
on
the
same
day.
Some
see
this
as
a
sign
for
the
battles
to
come
for
the
lucrative
e-­‐commerce
market.
The
e-­‐commerce
market
in
China
is,
according
to
consultancy
McKinsey,
set
triple
to
US$395
billion
from
2011
to
2015.
Tencent
launched
on
Monday
WeChat
5.0,
a
new
version
of
the
world's
fifth-­‐most
popular
smartphone
app,
according
to
research
firm
GlobalWebIndex,
with
new
monetisable
features
including
a
game
centre,
sticker
shop,
mobile
payments
and
barcode
scanning
for
e-­‐
commerce
transactions.
On
the
same
day,
Alibaba
unveiled
a
service
that
lets
users
trade
on
Sina's
weibo
microblog
platform
directly,
a
step
into
the
social
realm.
Tencent's
QQ
messenger
had
close
to
800
million
active
accounts
at
the
end
of
2012,
while
WeChat
has
nearly
400
million
users,
of
whom
195
million
are
monthly
active
users.
WeChat
had
more
than
70
million
overseas
users
by
last
month.
Alibaba,
meanwhile,
has
been
working
to
slow
WeChat's
success.
It
has
splashed
out
on
an
18
per
cent
stake
in
Sina's
Weibo
and
28
per
cent
of
AutoNavi,
the
mainland's
top
mapping
system.
During
the
launch,
Tencent
put
a
mobile
puzzle
game,
Tian
Tian
Ai
Xiao
Chu,
on
The
new
update
also
carries
functions
including
a
mobile
payment
system
that
lets
users
buy,
for
instance,
movie
tickets
or
coupons
directly
on
the
app
through
Tencent's
third-­‐party
payment
system
Tenpay.
It
also
allows
users
to
scan
the
barcodes
of
different
products
with
their
smartphones,
and
if
the
products
are
available
online,
users
will
be
directed
to
For
more
information
feel
free
to
write
to
Christian
Brüel
christianbruel87@gmail.com
at
Shanghai
Jungle.
Read
more
http://www.scmp.com/business/china-­‐business/article/1295141/mobile-­‐e-­‐commerce-­‐battle-­‐heats
Loushanguan
83
+86
15811153574
www.schultz-­‐co.com