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It isn't the same thing by any means, and doesn't really offer much over cards other than a slight improvement in convenience. Mobile payments in China are esse
by njepa 7y ago
It isn't the same thing by any means, and doesn't really offer much over cards other than a slight improvement in convenience. Mobile payments in China are essentially peer-to-peer and universal. The closest equivalent is probably something like MobilePay or Swish, but that isn't as good or as widespread.
- teknologist 7y agoPeer-to-peer in the same way that PayPal is peer-to-peer. There's still a central entity somewhere holding all the money and data.
- njepa 7y agoSure, but cards are even more centralized. The "feature" of WeChat is that it can be used for almost anything. It is a cash successor more so that a card alternative. Anyone can print, display or scan a QR code. Doesn't matter if it is a store, a friend or a random person. Doesn't matter if it is in the physical world, on a website or in a chat. And it is easy to do. And almost everyone uses it. Contactless cards only matches WeChat in the same way something like Apple Pay does.
- teknologist 7y agoI am not seeing the value in being able to print QR codes unless your business is selling fruit on the street (to be fair, a lot of businesses in China are just this). The more secure analogy comparable in price would be solutions like Square and PayPal Here. Smartphones are ubiquitous.