A recent mobile payments research report said that the mobile payments market was valued at USD $897.68 billion in 2018 and is expected to reach a value of USD $3,695.46 billion by 2024, at a CAGR of 26.93% over the forecast period of 2019–2024. Stores and services across the world are rapidly adopting and integrating mobile payment applications.

Owing to changing lifestyles, daily commerce, and rapid growth in online retailing, this trend is expected to continue for many more years. With the rapidly increasing global economy, mobile phones (especially smartphones) have become an essential commodity for individuals. Similarly, the internet has also become part and parcel of life for many people. This has increased the penetration of smartphones and internet users all over the world, driving the growth of the mobile payment market.

An earlier report had previously said: “The smartphone penetration rate in countries such as Canada, China, and India has been significantly high over the past few years. With evolving technology, smartphones are now available at reasonable prices, making them affordable for customers. Moreover, the extensive growing distribution network of smartphone companies has made these devices easily available for end users. A boom in mobile commerce has been witnessed over the past few years, owing to growth in penetration of smartphones coupled with fast connectivity. Consumers are gradually opting for mobile purchases for a number of goods and services, such as apparel & accessories, groceries, health & beauty, computers & electronics, and books, owing to ease of ordering and receiving it at one’s doorstep. In addition, special offers and discount coupons offered by various vendors available on the m-commerce platforms attract customer towards mobile purchase.” 

FingerMotion, Inc, a U.S. fintech company with mobile payment and recharge platform operations in China, is pleased to announce that is has expanded the breadth of its services with a definitive Portal Sales and Cooperation Agreement with China Unicom’s Yunnan subsidiary, a leading mobile carrier in China. Under the terms of the renewable 3-year agreement, China Unicom’s Yunnan subsidiary has migrated the management and developmental control of the portal to FingerMotion’s subsidiary, JiuGe Information Technology (JiuGe). The existing platform currently handles cellular top up, phone sales, and accessory sales such as sim cards, cases, and prepaid phone cards.

The agreement will also allow for the inclusion of installment plans for the purchase of a new phone or prepaid phone plans. In addition, there will be a rollout of a broadband initiative for consumers and businesses. The Company believes that this agreement will significantly increase revenues and gross margins going forward.

The agreement calls for FingerMotion to share with China Unicom a percentage of the revenues generated from sales on the portal. JiuGe will be responsible for collecting the revenue generated off the platform and paying the costs to maintain the customer service center. This online sales agreement will funnel all of China Unicom’s online sales through this portal. JiuGe will retain a higher percentage of revenue on the cellular ‘top-up’ sales to compensate FingerMotion for the higher level of management and oversight, while China Unicom’s Yunnan subsidiary will retain a higher percentage of gross profit on the hardware and financial insurance products. The handoff of control of the portal has already begun, and the final rollout of the entire line-up of products and services will be accomplished in stages over the coming months.

JiuGe will be licensed to operate and manage China Unicom’s Yunnan Subsidiary’s existing online flagship stores in three major e-Commerce platforms in China, namely Tmall (operated by Alibaba (NYSE: BABA), JD.com (NASDAQ: JD) and PinDuoDuo (NASDAQ: PDD). According to a June 2018 article by Forbes titled “For Brands, Alibaba is The Gateway to China and Chinese Customers”.  Forbes stated that Alibaba has 617 million monthly mobile users and 552 million active users on its China retail marketplaces (Tmall and Taobao). In comparison, according to Tech in Asia, JD.com has 292 million customers. 

Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) recently announced it will deepen AI integration into its mobile ecosystem for a more dynamic, connected and seamless user experience at the Baidu Create 2019 AI Developer Conference.

At the Baidu Create plenary session, Dou Shen, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Baidu’s Mobile Ecosystem Group, delivered a keynote speech and shared his insights on what upgrades AI technology has made to user experience for mobile ecosystem products, such as Baidu App. He also shared an update on new developments in the Baidu App Smart Mini Program to build “New Connection” for users and developers. Shen said the application of AI technologies on Baidu App has accelerated the maturity of products based on speech and image recognition, bringing more surprise in terms of user experience. The development of Smart Mini Program enables Baidu App to enhance user experience by providing not only information, but also other products and services. “With the evolving Baidu App as the core, Baidu is creating a ‘New Mobile, New Connection, and New Ecosystem’,” he said.

After years of development, Baidu’s AI technology has been successfully applied across many verticals. Baidu’s core product, Baidu App, is empowered by cutting-edge AI technology that helps it to understand user needs by connecting people and information efficiently and driving app growth. The number of Baidu App daily active users has reached 188 million, making it one of the largest digital media and service platforms in China. At the same time, the entire Baidu mobile ecosystem is growing, and the number of monthly active devices running Baidu mobile apps has reached 1.1 billion.