China’s version of Twitter , Sina Weibo, is entering the payments services business, following the route of Chinese messaging service WeChat.
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The Chinese brand of WeChat, Weixin, started to expand its services in 2013, most notably in the payments field.
The new feature introduced by Sina Weibo is called "Weibo Payment"- or "Wallet" within the app.
The app represents another step of the Sina Weibo’s joint venture with Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, which took an 18% stake in Sina Weibo in April 2013
In 2013 the two companies launched a platform in order to simplify shopping on e-commerce site Taobao for Weibo customers. The feature allowed customers to buy products directly on Weibo.
The deal with Alibaba it is not Weibo’s first venture into third-party payments, as in the past there was an agreement with Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi.
According to Weibo’s the company currently wants to boost its app with other services as well, in order to keep competing with WeChat.
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