Viewpoint: Why I joined a mobile payment system I can’t use
Friday, January 22, 2016
I’ve gladly signed up for Alipay, a mobile payment service that works primarily in China. Given the struggles that many stateside mobile wallets have to sign up customers, you might wonder why I jumped in to something I won’t have much opportunity to use.
Alipay is owned by Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce giant. Along with WeChat, a newer competitive system, it has largely taken over China’s commerce in the last five years. Consumers there typically pay for everything from restaurants to golf vacations using electronic wallets. Credit cards and cash are relatively rare and quite possibly going extinct.
