Alipay is developing an app resembles the Passbook Apple firstly introduced in its iOS 6 update. Alipay’s similar offering is more like a digital wallet that integrates all your credit cards and ecoupons. A feature to better manage bills is also included in the service.
The move could be seen as the first concrete move that Alibaba delved into the heated Chinese online-to-offline market.
A recent report by market researcher Euromonitor predicted that Tmall is expected to replace Amazon as the No.1 ecommerce site worldwide. According to the report, Tmall, the giant Chinese B2C platform, could hit US$ 12 billion in sales by 2017, more than Amazon’s estimated 10 billion during the same period.
Goldman Sachs published a research note lately valued the Alibaba Group at US$ 35 billion,
Government of Singapore Investment Corp. bought 500,000 ADS (American Deposit Shares) of newly-listed YY.Inc (Nasdaq: YY), according to the latter’s recent filing with SEC. GIC also held 12.6% of Shanda Games (Nasdaq: GAME) as of this February.