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Text / Lingling
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Recently, Alipay began to test the new function of transferring money to WeChat friends in a small area. Once it was made public, it rushed to the hot search. Many people think that Alipay can transfer money directly to WeChat.
However, the process is not as simple as we thought.
It should be said that the interconnection slogan between Ali and Tencent has been shouted for many years, and the walls are still high today.
Alipay can “transfer money” to WeChat
At present, some Alipay users have added a “transfer to WeChat friend” option on the “transfer” page. Users can choose three ways to receive: scan the code to receive, verify the initials of the transferor’s name, and designate a user to receive.
(Source: Network)After you transfer money, the page will automatically generate a QR code. Next, you need to send the QR code to your WeChat and QQ friends. The recipient needs to scan the code to collect it within 24 hours, otherwise it will be returned the same way.
Interestingly, on the surface, it is said to transfer money to WeChat, but in fact, it can only be said to have a “one in ten thousand” relationship with WeChat. The beneficiary must first save the QR code, then open the Alipay APP, and then scan the code to receive it. The money received will eventually remain in Alipay.
In this process, WeChat is at most only a notifier.
It’s no wonder that netizens seem to be fooled after they figure out the transfer process: I just add Alipay friends to transfer money, isn’t it more convenient?
“Useful, but not very useful” is an extremely objective description of this transfer function.
In addition to transferring money to WeChat, Ali has recently made other actions in interconnection. For example, Ali employees broke the news that “88 VIP points will be exchanged for Tencent Video members for free. It has been tested in internal grayscale and is expected to be launched before Double Eleven.” However, the news was quickly “refuted” by Ali.
Looking back at last year’s Double Eleven, Ali also put a lot of effort into interconnection.
At the beginning of October last year, Taote announced that it officially launched the WeChat scan code payment function.
At that time, Wang Hai, vice president of Alibaba Group and general manager of the Taote business unit, mentioned that Taote launched the WeChat scan code payment project under the background of the slow progress of direct WeChat payment.
“Before there is no interoperability, the payment should be completed by scanning the code. Even if this transition method exists for a few weeks or a few days, we hope that the direct connection to WeChat payment will not wait too long.”
In the same month, Taobao also launched a shopping cart sharing function, which allows consumers to share the items in the shopping cart with one click.
Taobao’s various initiatives are undoubtedly filled with these words: tear down the wall of WeChat.
Throwing an olive branch to test the boundaries of WeChat
In September last year, the relevant business departments of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology held an “Administrative Guidance Meeting on Blocking URL Links”. At the meeting, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology proposed the compliance standards for instant messaging software, requiring that all platforms must be unblocked according to the standards within the time limit, otherwise, measures will be taken according to law.
Subsequently, the giants responded one after another.
Tencent stated that it firmly supports the decision of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and will implement it in stages and step by step under the premise of taking safety as the bottom line.
Alibaba responded, “Interconnection is the original intention of the Internet, and openness is the foundation of the digital ecosystem. Alibaba will follow the relevant requirements of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, face the future together with other platforms, and meet each other halfway.”
ByteDance said that it will conscientiously implement the decision of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and called on all Internet platforms to take action without making excuses and clarifying the timetable.
However, judging from the actions in the past year, Ali is one of the more active ones.
On the earnings conference call in the first fiscal quarter of 2022, CEO Zhang Yong expressed his recognition of interconnection, “Interconnection is the original intention of the Internet, openness is the foundation of the digital ecology, and the social value that the big cycle between platforms can generate, It must be far greater than the small loop within a single platform. And the interconnection and opening of the platforms will result in a win-win situation.”
It can be seen from Ali’s opening direction that its target is WeChat.
The WeChat platform has a huge traffic pool and is the “fat meat” that many people are eyeing. A number of e-commerce observers said that WeChat’s strong private traffic, high conversion rate, and opaque pricing are the last depression for many Internet platforms to seek growth. Once opened, all platforms will scramble to enter the WeChat private traffic pool to absorb nutrients and grow desperately.
And Ali is obviously turning passive into active, through the continuous introduction of “opening” measures, as an olive branch, to test the open boundaries of WeChat. I don’t know if it is successful or not, but if it is successful, the first to follow the “connectivity policy” will be Ali.
However, although Ali has a lot of tricks, Tencent is unmoved.
At the end of November last year, WeChat released a message on the update of external chain management, saying that it will try to open the direct access function of e-commerce external links in the group chat scenario. However, for this function, the feeling of many consumers is: “There are indeed changes, but they are not as big as imagined.”
Tweaking is the status quo of giants in the matter of interconnection.
(Source: Network)Why is it so difficult to communicate?
The slogan of “connectivity” has been shouted for more than a year, so why is there still no substantial progress.
Is it because there is no benefit to being open? actually not.
Interconnection, on the one hand, conforms to the general trend of Internet anti-monopoly, and on the other hand, is a manifestation of mutual benefit and win-win to some extent. Take Tencent and Alibaba as examples. Tencent has the largest traffic pool in China. Alibaba’s advantages lie in e-commerce and payment. The combination of the two is bound to make the plate bigger.
However, if the two companies do not look at the problem from an overall perspective, but only proceed from their own interests, then not opening up to each other may be their best choice.
In addition, there is no reference answer on how to open up and to what extent, which means that opening up carries unknown risks, so it is also the reason for blocking the progress of opening up.
Liu Chiping, president of Tencent, once pointed out, “Interoperability between platforms is a very complex issue that needs to be discussed and resolved over time. Once these issues are not handled properly, it will be a serious threat to our users, many small and medium-sized brands and merchants on the platform. It’s a disadvantage. So we’re going to deal with those issues very carefully.”
At the same time, Jiao Haitao, a professor at the School of Civil, Commercial and Economic Law of China University of Political Science and Law, believes that “interconnection may still have a boundary. It must not be completely open or data sharing like the radical view, but a reasonable boundary needs to be formulated.”
Based on the opinions of the industry, to truly achieve interconnection, the government needs to participate in it to achieve the role of guidance, supervision and restraint.
For example, to take into account the risks of open data, companies should be allowed to charge reasonable fees to give companies that produce data the confidence to continue producing.
After the data is opened, it may involve monopoly agreements and abuse of market dominance.
Under various possible open risks, throwing an olive branch may also be the safest way of communication that the giants can think of.
In any case, interoperability has become a trend, but this is a slow and gradual process, and it also has boundaries. How the future evolves is worth looking forward to.
This article is reproduced from: https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/csj/2022-10-25/doc-imqmmthc2104124.shtml
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