---- Ein Passagier mit seinem Smartphone einen QR-Code scannen über Mobile Payment Service WeChat von Tencent Zahlen für Taxi Gebühren in Zhangjiajie Stadt zu zahlen, c
--FILE--A passenger uses his smartphone to scan a QR code via mobile payment service WeChat Pay of Tencent to pay for taxi fees in Zhangjiajie city, central China's Hunan province, 16 August 2017. China's third-party mobile payment market has continued rapid expansion as cashless transactions gained increasing popularity in the country. In the second quarter of 2017, third-party mobile payment transactions amounted to 23 trillion yuan (about 3.46 trillion U.S. dollars), up 22.5 percent from the previous quarter, according to a report by Beijing-based marketing consultancy firm Analysys International. The report attributed the robust growth to increasing e-commerce transactions and other financial trading. Products from China's two Internet giants, Alibaba and Tencent, maintained dominance in the industry, taking 92.8 percent of the market. Alipay, Alibaba's mobile payment service, led the market with a 53.7-percent share, followed by Tencent Finance, with a 39.1-percent share. According to figures released by China Internet Network Information Center, China had 724 million mobile phone users at the end of June 2017. More than 35 percent of them often make mobile payments while 31.8 percent still prefer using cash or credit cards.
