Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi is planning to release its mobile payment service in China within the third or fourth quarter of the year.
Currently, the Chinese mobile payment industry is dominated by WeChat Pay from Tencent and Alipay from Alibaba. The two mobile payment services account for about 90 percent of the total market, according to DigiTimes.
ajor smartphone manufacturers such as Samsung and Huawei all support Alipay. This is to make sure that they have access to China’s growing mobile payment service.
Unlike Samsung and Huawei, Xiaomi does not support Alipay. In its effort to bring mobile payment to its user base, Xiaomi has decided to launch its service rather than joining Alipay. Tech experts say it is a risky move but could prove to be game changing if Xiaomi can propel its platform to popularity.
In similar news, Xiaomi India recently signed a partnership with payments company MobiKwik as part of the former’s effort to integrate digital payment service into its devices in the region. The new feature will be available on all Xiaomi devices running on the MIUI 8 operating system
The latest partnership between MobiKwik and Xiaomi is also a good way for the latter to expand its business in other regions, especially India.
In a statement acquired by IBS Intelligence, MobiKwik chief operations officer Mrinal Sinha said, “With this initiative, we take a leap in giving users seamless recharge and payments experience.”
