Category: Apps

Alibaba is showing strong interest in acquiring Snapchat

Alibaba, China’s largest e-commerce organization, may be looking to invest in photo messaging application Snapchat. The app has become widely popular, used heavily by those that want to share pictures and short videos with the people they care about. Alibaba is reportedly in talks with Snapchat regarding financing, which could value the application at $10 billion. Why Alibaba is showing interest in Snapchat is something of a surprise considering the company’s focus on commerce, but Alibaba has been growing increasingly mobile-centric over the past year.

Snapchat is resilient to the attractive offers produced by companies like Facebook

Snapchat has yet to show any interest in the acquisition proposals offered by other companies. Facebook recently offered to purchase Snapchat for $3 billion, an offer that was rebuked by CEO Evan Spiegel. Though Snapchat may not be looking to be acquired by a larger company, that does not mean these companies will stop trying to buy it. Alibaba has considerable financial clout, and the offer that the company makes to Snapchat could change the mind of Spiegel.

Alibaba could use Snapchat to compete with Tencent in the social space

Alibaba has an interest in mobile applications like Snapchat because its primary rival in China, Tencent, currently holds dominance in the social and gaming fields. Tencent’s WeChat application is one of the most widely used in the world, and the company has recently introduced mobile commerce services to the platform. Alibaba has missed out on the mobile messaging craze, focusing instead on e-commerce. Now, however, Alibaba may be looking into engaging in the mobile messaging space, and Snapchat may be the best tool through which to do so.

WeChat proves that a social application can become an effective mobile commerce tool

Snapchat does not support mobile payments in any way, but that could change in the future. The WeChat application had been nothing more than a messaging platform until very recently. The application can now be used to purchase products from certain retailers and order taxi services in some cities in China.

One of the most attractive aspects of mobile commerce is its convenience. Smartphones and tablets let people make payments for goods and services wherever they happen to be at any given moment, and these people don’t even have to use a credit card or any kind of physical currency. Many mobile commerce platforms have been able to thrive because of their convenient nature. In the advent of wearable technology, that convenience could be taken to a new level.

Wearable devices, such as smart watches and glasses are on the verge of becoming quite popular with tech-savvy consumers. Few of these devices are currently available, but that is likely to change in the next few years. Current wearable devices are somewhat lackluster in their features, but devices being released in the near future will behave very similar to modern smartphones. They will be able to use a wide range of applications, some of which will change the way people see the physical world around them. They will also have access to mobile commerce platforms.

Unlike smartphones, wearable devices will be controlled in a more intuitive way. For smart glasses, voice controls and modest head and eye movements will be used to activate the features of a device. These devices will also be equipped with image recognition technology that could also be used to activate certain features. This could make commerce significantly more intuitive and responsive to consumer interaction. When someone can look at a product and make a purchase with nothing more than a blink of an eye, that is the epitome of convenience in the mobile commerce space.

Wearable devices aren’t perfect, of course. Using a simple gesture to make a purchase could lead to many problems, such as unauthorized transactions. This is not something that app developers are unaware of, and many are taking steps to ensure that their mobile commerce platforms will not be abusive in this way.