QR-vs-NFC game enlivens market

The competition in China's multibillion-dollar mobile payment market has intensified with Apple Inc stepping up efforts to challenge the dominance of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Tencent Holdings Ltd.

The US tech giant launched a large-scale promotion campaign for its mobile payment service Apple Pay earlier this month, in the hope of luring more technology-responsive consumers away from Alibaba's Alipay and Tencent's WeChat Pay.

Unlike the two Chinese homegrown services which can be installed in all kinds of mobile devices, Apple Pay is only available for iPhone users. But Apple Pay appears to enjoy an advantage in its use of near field communication or NFC technology, which uses a chipset embedded in smartphones.