“This looks like a real blow to Tencent’s competitor Alibaba, which has been trying to expand its payment services to the Western world for a while without much success (the reasons behind could be various: PayPal already dominating the market, legal barriers no relationship with the likes of Visa, MasterCard and so on) and also as a surprise, giving CUP struggles,” said Zennon Kapron (photo right), managing director, Kapronasia. Chinese mobile payment service provider, Tencent, is planning to expand its WeChat payment platform internationally adding to the 20 countries where it already operates. The company said on Tuesday that it plans to add more than 100 new countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Korea, Spain, and Turkey. Alibaba is said to have attempted, and largely failed, in its efforts to expand its mobile payment service beyond China, whereas the initial success of WeChat indicates that "it has a real shot at becoming a must-have for Americans and Europeans too".
Chinese mobile payment service provider, Tencent, is planning to expand its WeChat payment platform internationally adding to the 20 countries where it already operates. The company said on Tuesday that it plans to add more than 100 new countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Korea, Spain, and Turkey. Alibaba is said to have attempted, and largely failed, in its efforts to expand its mobile payment service beyond China, whereas the initial success of WeChat indicates that "it has a real shot at becoming a must-have for Americans and Europeans too".