14 DAY TRIAL // Alibaba is moving up the totem pole inside the United States, kicking its elbows left and right and trying to see whether it has a real chance on the market and how best to tackle the task. The Chinese e-commerce giant may have just found a way in by proposing a deal with Apple.
The whole thing revolves around the faulty mobile payment system Apple introduced along with its latest iPhones which has been charging some people twice the sum it should be.
During the Wall Street Journal Digital Live conference on Monday, Jack Ma, executive chairman of Alibaba Group Holdings said he was open to working with Apple on mobile payments.
Alibaba already has such a service, called Alipay, and which is the largest such tool in China. This means it’s safe to say that the service does indeed have quite a bit of experience in creating a safe tool that actually works the way it’s supposed to do.
“I hope we can do something together,” Ma said during the interview, when asked whether Alipay and Apple Pay might tie up and do business together.
Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, seemed to be quite interested in Jack Ma’s proposal. “I have the utmost respect for Jack. We love to partner with people who are wicked smart, have flexible teams, who are product based and push us. I think Jack has a company that’s exactly like that. If we can find some areas of common space, I’d love it,” Cook said in response during an interview on the same event.
Alibaba, a huge player
Alibaba is a huge corporation in China and rules quite a bit of areas with its services. Aside from e-commerce transactions, (Alibaba is for businesses, while Taobao is for consumers), there are retail platforms, online payment systems, cloud computing, and more.
The company’s recent IPO managed to reach historic heights with no other before it managing to raise as much money, which is, of course, a testament to the company’s weight in Asia and the potential it has to take over the world.
Even so, the company’s steps outside of China have been timid. Alibaba’s leadership has been considering for a while now to take on more markets, including the one in the United States. In China, Alibaba handles more e-commerce transactions than Amazon and eBay combined, which should give you a sense of just how big the company really is.
Right now, however, Ma is busy looking for partners to improve its business in China for local customers.