Samsung Pay strikes partnership with Chinese online payment giant Alipay

Posted By Vivek Pal

Samsung announced today that it has cemented a deal that will make Alipay, China’s largest online payments platform, available through Samsung Pay.

The partnership, made between Samsung Electronics and Ant Financial, the Alibaba financial tech affiliate that owns Alipay,  is important because Alipay is one of the most formidable rivals mobile payments like Samsung Pay and Apple Pay face as they tackle the Chinese market.

Alipay, which claims about 450 million active registered users, launched the Alipay Wallet smartphone app, which stores credit card and coupon information and can be used for offline payments, back in 2013.

Samsung Pay expanded into China at the end of March, about six weeks after Apple Pay’s debut there.

Apple has reportedly been trying to strike a similar agreement with Alibaba since last year. The deal hasn’t been announced yet, but the popularity of iPhones in China—they still hold about a 14.6 percent market share, despite competition from Android rivals like Huawei and Xiaomi—means it would not be surprising if one was announced soon, too.

Samsung Pay users can now link their Alipay accounts and make payments with the service’s NFC and MST technology to checkout at retail stores. They can also access Alipay’s QR codes through the Samsung Pay.

The advantage of tying up with Alipay are obvious for Samsung Pay. Alipay also benefits, however, because Samsung Pay’s technology will allow it to expand into more offline businesses.

In a press statement, Fan Zhiming, the president of Ant Financial’s payment business unit, said the partnership will allow Alipay to expand its reach beyond e-commerce:

“Alipay covers the vast majority of online payment use cases. At the same time, it also developed a variety of offline use cases, including restaurants, supermarkets, convenience stores, taxis, hospitals, and public services. The technology integration facilitated by this partnership with Samsung Electronics will make the payment process faster and more convenient when users make payments at stores where Alipay is accepted.”

Alipay claims to be accepted at about 600,000 brick and mortar retail stores in China, as well as in over one million taxis.

Moto X now officially available in India starting Rs. 23,999

Moto X now officially available in India starting Rs. 23,999

posted by vivek pal 

Moto X is now officially available in India starting Rs. 23,999. The Moto X smartphone will be exclusively available via the e-commerce website Flipkart.

The five colour variants are priced at Rs. 23,999 while the ones with wooden backs are priced at Rs. 25,999. At the launch, the Moto X will be available in the Black and White colour variants only; however, Flipkart had revealed on Tuesday that other colour options will be up for pre-order.

Notably, the online retailer has also revealed few launch day offers for the Moto X which includes flat 70 percent off on Moto X cases (when purchased along with the Moto X) and Rs. 1000 cash back on buying Moto X on a 6-month EMI. The retailer is also offering a chance to get 100 percent cash back (in the form of Flipkart store credit) on the Moto X phone purchase (for 10 lucky Moto X customers). Details of the offer are available via Flipkart's website .

Notably, the Moto X will be only available in 16GB variant, as the online retailer earlier revealed that the 32GB variant of the Moto X is not headed to India just yet.

The Moto X launch comes a few weeks after the successful launch of budget smartphone Moto G(Review) in the country, also via Flipkart.

The Moto X, a customisable Android smartphone was launched in August last year and was initially available in US only. The smartphone natively ran Android 4.2 Jelly Bean; however Motorola rolled out the Android 4.4.2 KitKat update in November last year.

The Moto X features a 4.7-inch display with a resolution of 720x1280 pixels. It is powered by a 1.7GHz dual-core Qualcomm MSM8960Pro Snapdragon processor along with 2GB of RAM. There is 16GB of inbuilt storage, which is non-expandable. It also sports a 10-megapixel rear camera accompanied by an LED flash and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera.

The highlight of the Moto X are software features like Active Display, Touchless Control, Quick Capture Camera, and more.

Motorola Moto X full specifications :

Available as:
Motorola Moto X XT1058 for AT&T
Motorola Moto X XT1053 for T-Mobile
Motorola Moto X XT1052 for Europe
Motorola Moto X XT1056 for Sprint
Motorola Moto X XT1060 for Verizon
Motorola Moto X XT1055 for U.S. Cellular

GENERAL	2G Network	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 - all versions
	3G Network	HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 - for AT&T HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100 - for T-Mobile
		HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 - for Europe
	4G Network	LTE 700 / 850 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100 - for AT&T LTE 700 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100 - for T-Mobile
		LTE 800 / 1800 / 2600 - for Europe
	SIM	Nano-SIM
	Announced	2013, August
	Status	Available. Released 2013, August

BODY	Dimensions	129.3 x 65.3 x 10.4 mm (5.09 x 2.57 x 0.41 in)
	Weight	130 g (4.59 oz)

DISPLAY	Type	AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
	Size	720 x 1280 pixels, 4.7 inches (~312 ppi pixel density)
	Multitouch	Yes
	Protection	Corning Gorilla Glass

SOUND	Alert types	Vibration, MP3, WAV ringtones
	Loudspeaker	Yes
	3.5mm jack	Yes

MEMORY	Card slot	No
	Internal	16/32 GB, 2 GB RAM

DATA	GPRS	Yes
	EDGE	Yes
	Speed	HSDPA, 42.2 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps; LTE, Cat3, 50 Mbps UL, 100 Mbps DL / EV-DO Rev. A, up to 3.1 Mbps
	WLAN	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot
	Bluetooth	Yes, v4.0 with A2DP, LE, EDR
	NFC	Yes
	USB	Yes, microUSB v2.0, USB Host

CAMERA	Primary	10 MP, 4320 x 2432 pixels, autofocus, LED flash
	Features	1.4 µm pixel size, geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, panorama, HDR
	Video	Yes, 1080p@30fps, stereo sound rec., HDR
	Secondary	Yes, 2 MP,1080p

FEATURES	OS	Android OS, v4.2.2 (Jelly Bean), upgradable to v4.4 (KitKat)
	Chipset	Qualcomm MSM8960Pro Snapdragon
	CPU	Dual-core 1.7 GHz Krait
	GPU	Adreno 320
	Sensors	Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer, temperature
	Messaging	SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM
	Browser	HTML5
	Radio	No
	GPS	Yes, with A-GPS support and GLONASS
	Java	Yes, via Java MIDP emulator
	Colors	Black, White (front panel), 18 color options (back panel)
		- Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic - Google Drive (50 GB storage) - SNS integration - MP3/AAC+/WAV/WMA player - MP4/H.263/H.264/WMV player - Google Search, Maps, Gmail - YouTube, Google Talk, Picasa - Organizer - Photo viewer/editor - Document viewer - Voice memo/dial - Predictive text input

BATTERY		Li-Ion 2200 mAh battery
	Stand-by	Up to 576 h
	Talk time	Up to 13 h

MISC	SAR US	1.39 W/kg (head)     0.50 W/kg (body)
	Price group