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Report sheds light on the influential parties that exist in the mobile payments world

JT | March 21, 2014

Forbes Insights teams with Appinions to examine the mobile commerce space

Forbes Insights has partnered with Appinions in order to release a new study concerning the mobile payments phenomenon. The study aims to shed light on which companies and people have the most influence on the mobile commerce sector. The study makes use of the Appinions platform, which is designed to track trends and pertinent information in the digital world. Mobile commerce has become very popular, but the field is quite competitive, making it somewhat difficult to identify those that have established a strong presence within the market.

Appionons platform allows Forbes Insights to examine digital conversations concerning mobile commerce

Using the Appinions platform, Forbes Insights was able to examine more than 2 billion documents pertaining to mobile payments in some way. This information covered blogs, news postings, forums, and social media updates between December 6, 2013 and March 7, 2014. In examining this data, Forbes Insight has been able to provide Influence Scores for organizations that were active in the mobile commerce space.

Apple is considered one of the most influential groups in mobile commerce

New Mobile Payments Study According to Forbes Insights, there has been a significant increase in the conversations relating to mobile payments thus far in 2014. Many of the conversations that have to do with mobile commerce are being centered on Apple’s interest in the sector. Apple CEO Tim Cook recently announced the company’s interest in mobile commerce, which sparked a great deal of speculation concerning Apple’s approach to the sector. Apple has no interest in using NFC technology to facilitate mobile purchases, but it has been reportedly working on a platform that will make payments possible through its various mobile devices.

Several companies have attracted a great deal of attention from mobile consumers

Notably, Apple, Google, PayPal, Amazon, and Satrbucks are companies that have significant influence in the mobile commerce sector. These companies are generating a great deal of hype behind the idea of shopping for and purchasing products online using a mobile device. Conversations concerning these companies and the role they play in the mobile field have been growing at a rapid pace.

Alibaba IPO may gain attention through mobile commerce initiatives

JT | March 19, 2014

Alibaba intends to launch an IPO in the near future, aiming for US listing

The Alibaba Group, China’s largest e-commerce organization, has announced plans to seek listing on the U.S. stock exchange. The company is preparing to launch an initial public offering (IPO), but has not yet released details concerning this process. Alibaba is currently considered one of the most successful e-commerce groups in the world and has been making a strong push into the mobile commerce sector. In order to provide its forthcoming IPO with additional momentum, Alibaba has been pushing to make its new taxi application more popular among consumers.

Taxi-hailing application expected to add value to Alibaba’s mobile initiatives

The application takes advantage of a taxi-hailing service. The service allows users to schedule a taxi for transportation directly from their mobile device. The service can be paid for through the Alipay application, which facilitates mobile payments. This type of taxi-hailing service is quite popular in China, where people are beginning to rely more heavily on transit services. Taxis in large cities are finding that business from mobile consumers is rising significantly.

Alibaba and Tencent continue to fight in the mobile market

Alibaba is currently working to compete with Tencent, one of China’s largest Internet organizations. Tencent has been pushing into the mobile commerce field as well and has managed to establish a strong presence therein through its WeChat application. WeChat is the most popular messaging application in the world and is heavily used throughout Asia. Tencent has been working to transform WeChat into a mobile commerce platform and has managed to find success in this endeavor thus far.

Taxi-hailing applications may be a boon for both Tencent and Alibaba

Both Alibaba and Tencent are focusing heavily on taxi-hailing services. Both companies believe that taxis could power future growth and add further value to their mobile commerce initiatives. Alibaba anticipates that it will raise more than $15 billion from its IPO, but there are no details concerning when this IPO will be launched. Alibaba is likely to continue working to establish a lead in China’s growing mobile market.