TAIPEI: Global mobile payment transactions will surge 38 percent in 2016 as industry giants such as Apple and Alibaba expand in China, the world’s biggest mobile phone market by subscribers, a Taiwan-based IT research firm said yesterday.
In 2016, the global mobile payment transactions will hit US$620 billion, up from US$450 billion last year. One of the catalysts driving the increase is that firms including Apple and Alibaba are popularizing the service in China, said TrendForce.
Smartphone market leaders Apple and Samsung both signed with China Unionpay at the start of 2016 to promote their mobile payment services in the domestic market with more than 1.3 billion mobile phone users. The agreements will allow consumers to use Apple Pay and Samsung Pay in China with a software update.
Meanwhile, Alibaba and Tencent have also upgraded fingerprint recognition, security tools and NFC (near field communications) to boost mobile payment for consumers.
Consumers are encouraged to pay directly via their mobile wallets linking mobile payment accounts WeChat and Alipay.
China Telecom, which has its own moble payment service, sees biometric authentication, including fingerprints, facial recognition and sound waves, to be used in more than half of online payments over the next two decades.
