Huawei partners with China UnionPay to expand access to Huawei Pay
Huawei Technologies, one of China’s largest manufacturers of mobile devices, will be expanding its mobile payments service in the country. This will place Huawei in direct competition with Apple, which recently brought its own payment service to China, as well as several other companies that have already established a strong lead in this market. The launch a new era of its service, Huawei has partnered with China UnionPay. Together, these organizations will offer a service called Huawei Pay.
Consumers showed favor for Huawei Pay during its testing phase
The payment service is not actually brand new. The service was first launched in September of last year on a pilot basis. It was only available for use in a limited number of stores and restaurants in China, but proved somewhat popular among consumers. Now, Huawei wants to expand the accessibility of this mobile payments service to more consumers, allowing them to make payments with their smartphones. China UnionPay will provide support for the service, allowing those with accounts with the bank to use Huawei Pay as they see fit.
Competition in China’s mobile commerce space is growing at a rapid rate
China’s mobile commerce space is already intensely competitive. The space is occupied by Alibaba, which is one of China’s largest e-commerce groups. The company currently holds a 70% market share in China’s mobile payments market. Tencent, another major Internet company in the country, holds a 19% market share in this market. Other companies are coming to China to find success in the growing mobile commerce market, but they may find very limited success due to the strong competition that exists within this space.
Consumers want secure mobile commerce solutions
Consumers see mobile payments as a convenient service, but many are still worried about the security of their personal information, which is why they avoid new payment services. Huawei Pay aims to allay consumer concerns with new security features. All transactions made through the service must be verified with a fingerprint scan, which will help protect consumer information from exploitation.
Google, Samsung, and Apple may have trouble engaging consumers in various markets
Google, Samsung, and Apple have all entered into the competitive mobile payments field and are looking to compete with one another for the favor of consumers. These companies may be facing an uphill battle, however, as the majority of consumers are more comfortable using traditional payment cards than they are using mobile wallets. A new report from Juniper Research shows that the number of people involved in the mobile commerce space is growing, but consumers are still more willing to use their credit and debit cards.
Report predicts that 148 million people will be using mobile wallets by end of year
According to the report from Juniper Research, 148 million people throughout the world will be using their mobile devices to make a purchase in a physical store by the end of 2016. An estimated one in five point-of-sale systems in the United States now support NFC technology, which forms the backbone of mobile payments. The report also shows that there is a major uptick in the number of cards registered to mobile payment systems when they launch in new markets. When Apple Pay launched in China, some 40 million new cards were added to the service in just 24 hours.
Registering cards with mobile wallets does not translate into using new payment devices
Consumers registering their cards with mobile payments services does not mean they are actually using mobile wallets, however. The report from Juniper Research shows that just 22 million consumers in the United States have decided to transition away from traditional wallets to their mobile counterparts. Even with the availability of services that can be used with any point-of-sale system, consumers are still more comfortable with traditional forms of commerce.
Europe may be the most attractive market for mobile commerce
Companies participating in mobile commerce are becoming more focused on Europe, where payment cards have become more secure and NFC technology is already quite popular. Europe may serve as the tipping point for the mobile payments space, as consumers in this region are feeling more comfortable with paying for products with their mobile devices.
