AliPay go Mobile with Mobile Barcode Payments

AliPay, the online payment division of e-commerce Alibaba, has brought 'mobile wallet' to Chinese stores, allowing transactions between shops and their customers. All customers need is to have AliPay application on their mobile phones.

How Alipay on Moble Phones works?
So far iPhone, Android and Nokia apps have released new mobile barcode payments feature for their handsets. Customers with iPhone, Android or Nokia phone need to install AliPay app on their phone first.

Sellers can easily accept the payments by just scanning through the barcode generated on their customer's cell-phone in one of two ways:

1. with the camera of their own smartphone (through their own AliPay account) or,
2. with the barcode scanning gun attached to their cash register.

isnt' it simple? ;)

To make it easier, Alipay did not want customers and shop-keepers to buy extra equipements and made it work with existing systems working all over China. At the moment, AliPay is aiming this at small shops, who need only to register (for free) to put the service into action.

With this system Alipay believe that they can get a bigger share from small businesses in China. They also have plans to make it even simpler and accessible and grow from small retailers to large transactions in future by integrating credit/debit cards using point-to-point terminals.

Shoppers can use funds contained just in their AliPay account, or on any debit or credit cards that they might have connected to it. The shopper will need to have internet access on their phone, by wifi, or 2G/GPRS or 3G.