The Drum – Two of the largest Chinese tech platforms, Alibaba and Tencent, are looking at how they can integrate their walled gardens to ensure consumers can use services from both platforms at the same time.
Greg Paull, the co-founder and principal of R3, points out that Alibaba’s $2.8 billion antitrust fine in December did not negate the risk of further regulation. “This initiative can be seen as proactive action taken by the two online giants to minimize any additional losses that might arise as a result of inaction,” he explains to The Drum. “Consumers can expect greater convenience. For example, they will no longer be constrained to pay within single apps. We could even see more innovation in this space as emerging companies and start-ups will have greater opportunities to grow.”
Paull says China is a unique market and it is unlikely global platforms like Google and Facebook will voluntarily match the country’s regulations. In fact, he says instead of “walls coming down”, walls are getting thicker.
