Category: Featured News

The tech company from China is seeking new investments and partnerships within India’s market.

The Xiaomi mobile tech company recently entered a partnership with the Mobikwik mobile wallet. It gave them access to 1 million device users in India who were using the free SMS-based mobile payment service. It is now becoming clear that this is only one of the first steps Xiaomi is taking into the Indian marketplace.

The technology company is now looking to invest in startups while also forming local partnerships.

The goal is to build a strong ecosystem surrounding Xiaomi mobile products in India. The Chinese tech company currently sells a range of different products in India, including smartphones, tablets, Bluetooth accessories, fitness bands and power banks. That said, the television launch may require additional time. The reason, says the company’s head in India, Manu Jain, is that Xiaomi has not yet completed its content strategy.

Still, the Xiaomi mobile investments in India have been growing rapidly, particularly among startups.

Back in April, the firm invested in Hungama Digital Media Entertainment. That was an important move toward establishing an Indian foundation, said Jain. Xiaomi was a leader in the $25 million round of investments into that business. It represented the first time Xiaomi invested in any startups within the Indian market.

As a result of this investment, Xiaomi device users will have free access to 2 Hungama premium apps for three months and for one year. Those apps are Hungama Play and Hungama Music, respectively.

More recently the company linked up with One Mobikwik Systems Pvt. Ltd., a mobile wallet business. Through that partnership, one million of the company’s device users will have access to that mobile payments system for free.

If the situation in the company’s home country is any indication, there could be a great deal more to come. In China, it has already incubated or invested in 55 content and hardware startup businesses. Among them have been those that have developed a broad range of offerings. These include everything from air and water purifiers to drones. They also include complementary software and content development.

Of the 55 companies, 20 have already launched a product. Four have managed to achieve a valuation of $1 billion – also known as unicorn status – following the Xiaomi mobile investment.

The CNVA has announced that it is preparing to roll out mpayments across the country.

A new announcement from the Canadian National Vending Alliance (CNVA) included the roll-out of vending machine mobile payments nationwide. The CNVA intends to launch machines compatible with smartphone transactions throughout Canada.

In order to complete that roll-out, the CNVA has been working with PayRange and its BluKey dongle.

The new partnership with PayRange has made it possible for the BluKey dongle to be installed in existing machines. In this way, contactless vending machine mobile payments can be accepted via the PayRange app. That mobile application accepts all major credit cards. It is available to both iOS and Android device users.

Steve Tremblay, the president of CNVA, stated: “with more people becoming increasingly cashless, we realized we needed a mobile payment solution to bring to all our machines.”

This addition of vending machine mobile payments has been deemed a prudent step ahead.

After all, USA Technologies vending machine solutions provider in the United States recently released interesting research findings. They indicated that revenue increases were possible through self-service POS terminals for which Apple Pay functionality has been properly advertised. This indicates that there is a growing interest in mobile payments among consumers.

While there have been many barriers in the way of adopting mobile payments, consumers are starting to show interest. Those invested in this market hope consumers will see the convenience of mobile wallets in these self-service areas. This could lay the foundation for broader use after consumers become more accustomed to using their smartphones to pay.

Still, it is important to recognize that Apple Pay remains the best known mobile wallet in the world. Compared to its rivals, it has managed a certain degree of popularity. The launch of the vending machine mobile payments occurs at a time when far fewer consumers have downloaded – or even heard of – the PayRange app. It will be interesting to see what percentage of consumers will be drawn in by the mpayments option when they decide to make their next purchase from a vending machine. Particularly as exact change is increasingly inconvenient.