• The Wall Street Journal reports that Jack Ma, executive chairman at Alibaba Holdings, the Chinese internet behemoth that recently raised $25 billion in an IPO, told a technology conference that he'd like to find a way to partner with Apple in the financial payments category. The story notes that "Alibaba is already a giant in payments. Its PayPal-like payments service … Alipay, has 300 million active users."
Apple, of course, recently launched its Apple Pay mobile payments business, which has been embraced by some retailers and spurned by others; the businesses that have rejected Apple Pay seem largely to be those that have a stake in the success of a competing system.
The story also says that "Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook said at the same conference he is going to meet with Mr. Ma later this week to discuss potential partnerships. He said Alibaba has all the traits of a company that Apple would like to partner with, though he didn’t specify whether Apple will work with Alibaba in payments."
Apple, of course, recently launched its Apple Pay mobile payments business, which has been embraced by some retailers and spurned by others; the businesses that have rejected Apple Pay seem largely to be those that have a stake in the success of a competing system.
The story also says that "Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook said at the same conference he is going to meet with Mr. Ma later this week to discuss potential partnerships. He said Alibaba has all the traits of a company that Apple would like to partner with, though he didn’t specify whether Apple will work with Alibaba in payments."
- KC's View:
