Tencent, Alibaba open mobile payments via vending machines
October 31, 2013 Category Uncategorized
Tencent and Alibaba have recently been waging a battle for consumers using vending machines at Beijing Subway stations. Both internet firms have rolled out “smart” vending machines that support their respective mobile e-commerce applications, which subscribers can download on their smartphones and use to buy drinks, snacks and other goods from the machines. Shenzhen-based Tencent teamed with Ubox, a vending-machine manufacturer, to install about 300 drinks machines across the Beijing Subway network and support transactions by subscribers to the WeChat social mobile-messaging app. Mobile payments via WeChat, which has more than 300 million active monthly users, are based on the app’s capability to scan the QR codes on the vending machine, and the transaction is then charged to the bank account integrated with the WeChat account. Alibaba, however, was the first to adopt apps-friendly vending machines and intends to cover more than 90% of China’s vending-machine market. The group’s affiliate, Alipay, agreed in April to cooperate with 11 vending-machine makers, including Ubox, to integrate its mobile payment solution on an initial batch of about 100 machines this year in Beijing Subway stations and various school campuses.
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