Alibaba unveils investment fund for smart phone app development
Alibaba revealed yesterday (16 July) that it will put RMB 1 billion ($161 million) into an investment fund to encourage independent software developers to create smartphone apps that “leverage” Alibaba’s e-commerce system. This ties in with last month’s announcement that Alibaba and Ant Financial Services plan to spend nearly $1 billion on a joint venture aimed at growing the market in China for local services that can be ordered and paid for using smartphones.
Alongside the investment fund, Alibaba also yesterday unveiled a new programme, called Shengyi 1.0, that will offer local-services app developers technical tools and other forms of support.
According to an article published yesterday on Alizila.com (a news service which is produced both about and by Alibaba): “Alibaba wants independent app-makers to incorporate a range of Alibaba technologies such as location-based services, targeted marketing and online payment into apps for so-called “on-demand” local services.
“The goal is to make smartphones central to the consumption of everyday services from booking car repairs to buying movie tickets to ordering take-out lunches.”
The Alizila article went on to say that Alibaba’s Vice President Wang Xiruo told a software developers conference held in Hangzhou yesterday that the business model for the stand-alone shopping website is “outdated in the era of the mobile Internet”.
Alibaba expects the e-commerce industry to move toward more specialized mobile apps that can “tap into niche markets and meet local users’ customized needs and demands”, Wang added.
