1.
Tencent
moves
money
online
through
WeChat
WeChat
users
can
now
make
online
payments,
a
move
that
challenges
Alibabas
dominant
position
in
the
lucrative
e-­‐commerce
market
7.
August
From
the
China
Daily:
The
battle
between
China's
Internet
titans
intensified
as
Tencent
Holdings
Ltd
started
allowing
its
WeChat
users
to
make
online
payments
on
Monday,
a
move
that
taps
into
the
lucrative
e-­‐commerce
market,
which
is
dominated
by
its
archrival
Alibaba
Group
Holding
Ltd.
The
WeChat
platform,
a
mobile
social
networking
application
developed
by
Tencent,
China's
largest
Internet
company
by
market
capitalization,
released
its
version
5.0
on
Monday
August
5th,
in
the
product's
biggest
update
since
it
was
launched
in
January
2011.
The
new
features
of
WeChat
5.0
include
social
games,
scanner
tools
and
-­‐
most
importantly
-­‐
payment
integration,
which
is
seen
by
many
insiders
as
"the
most
aggressive
function"
of
all.
The
WeChat
payment
function
can
integrate
bank
accounts
(credit
or
debit
card)
with
a
customer's
WeChat
account,
which
allows
WeChat's
more
than
300
million
users
to
make
purchases
on
several
e-­‐commerce
platforms.
With
the
help
of
scanner
tools,
goods
can
be
scanned
using
a
product's
barcode,
allowing
the
user
to
jump
directly
onto
the
ecommerce
website
selling
the
product
and
order
it
immediately.
Lu
Zhenwang,
an
independent
Internet
expert
and
the
chief
executive
officer
of
the
Shanghai-­‐
based
Wanqing
Consultancy,
said
the
latest
version
of
WeChat
has
the
potential
to
be
a
game-­‐changer
in
China's
mobile
Internet
world.
Lu
added
that
the
payment
function
has
great
potential
to
become
Tencent's
new
source
of
growth
and
a
strong
challenge
to
Alibaba,
which
accounts
for
more
than
50
percent
of
China's
e-­‐commerce
market.
McKinsey
&
Co
estimates
China's
e-­‐commerce
market
will
triple
to
$395
billion
from
2011
to
2015.
Alibaba,
the
dominant
player
in
this
field,
is
heading
toward
what
may
be
the
biggest
initial
share
offering
since
Facebook
Inc.
Tencent's
move
is
seen
as
the
latest
counter-­‐
offensive
against
Alibaba,
which
said
last
Wednesday
that
it
will
block
online
sellers'
access
to
WeChat,
citing
security
reasons.
Shoppers
have
instead
been
offered
the
option
to
log
on
to
Alibaba's
Taobao
marketplace
using
their
accounts
on
Sina
Weibo,
the
Chinese
Twitter-­‐like
micro-­‐blogging
platform,
starting
on
the
same
day
that
Tencent
released
its
WeChat
5.0.
The
move
is
seen
as
an
attempt
to
help
advertise
the
products
of
some
online
vendors
on
Sina
Weibo
and
try
to
redirect
potential
shoppers
from
Sina
Weibo
to
Taobao.
Read
more
http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/epaper/2013-­‐08/07/content_16877403.htm
Loushanguan
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