With the standard controversy over, where is the next stop for mobile payments?

　　"The national standard for mobile payment has already been drafted for review and is expected to be released within the year." At the recently held 5th China Mobile Payment Industry Forum, Chai Hongfeng, Executive Vice President of China UnionPay, revealed this information. Since the central bank issued the mobile payment industry standard in December 2012, and now with the national standard expected to be released within the year, the controversy and game over mobile payment standards have finally settled. With the clarification of standards, a new question has arisen: Where is the next stop for mobile payment development? Is Sontech applying and promoting, exploring business models, or building an industrial ecosystem?

　　Application promotion has become an urgent priority

　　Industrial development standards are advanced, and once standards are set, what truly needs to be driven and determined the speed and quality of industrial development is application.

　　At the 5th China Mobile Payment Industry Forum, experts and representatives from all segments of the mobile payment industry chain held a positive attitude toward the future development of mobile payment applications, believing that in the next 3~5 years, China's mobile payment applications will usher in a brand-new period of vigorous growth.

　　"Mobile payment applications will develop rapidly in the next two to three years," said Zhang Xinsheng, inspector of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's Telecommunications Administration. "2013 was the starting year for the rapid development of mobile payment applications," said Nie Linhai, Deputy Director of the Department of E-commerce and Informatization at the Ministry of Commerce. Kang Lin, Deputy Secretary-General of the China Payment and Clearing Association, also stated that the scale of payment transactions in China is growing rapidly, mainly reflected in the continuous improvement of the foundation and market conditions for mobile payment development, continuous innovation in products and services, and the increasing richness of mobile payment applications. At the same time, the huge number of mobile phone users provides the necessary conditions for the rapid development of the domestic mobile payment industry.

　　Unlike previous years when people always shouted "The wolf has come," could it be that the "wolf" that ignited the mobile app boom is really about to arrive? The undeniable fact is that today's mobile payments have indeed developed significantly compared to before. According to incomplete statistics, in 2012, the total transaction volume of mobile payments by banks nationwide approached 1.5 trillion yuan, and the total transaction volume of mobile payment services by payment institutions also exceeded 180 billion yuan.

　　However, while we do not deny that the mobile payment industry will develop rapidly, it is also important to objectively recognize that compared to the scale of mobile phone users in China, the user base of mobile payment apps is still not large. What deserves the industry's attention even more is that although all parties—including banks, operators, and third-party payment providers—have launched their own mobile payment applications, there is still no truly large-scale, nationwide, and technologically unified platform.

　　"Currently, the breadth and depth of mobile payment applications in China still need to be expanded, application fields are still limited, application scenarios are not rich enough, and there is a lack of universal applications with distinctive features and large-scale appeal." Kang Lin gave an objective evaluation of the industry's development. Statistics also show that in 2002, mobile payments accounted for less than 5% of total payment business volume at banks.

　　Another unfavorable aspect for mobile payment application development is that China's mobile payment acceptance environment still needs further improvement. Currently, infrastructure such as cross-institutional transfer and system connection platforms is still insufficient, and the pace of mobile payment acceptance terminal upgrades needs to be further accelerated to match the upcoming user growth in the future. In addition, the security issues of mobile payment applications in China also urgently need to be addressed. On one hand, related security technologies still urgently need improvement; on the other hand, users' awareness of security precautions also needs to be enhanced.

　　If the "golden window" for the rapid development of mobile apps has already opened, then what the industry needs to do is break down barriers and create conditions to make mobile payment a truly popular and user-loved app.

　　The ecological environment urgently needs to be built

　　Compared to other mobile internet applications, mobile payment is definitely a "broad-scoped" application. This is not only because the mobile payment industry chain is very long, involving banks, operators, equipment manufacturers, internet companies, and others, but also because mobile payment itself is a cross-industry application, covering finance, communications, IT, and other fields. Precisely because of this, building a harmonious industrial ecosystem is of great significance to mobile payments.

　　"Building an industrial ecosystem is a commanding height that must be seized in the development of mobile payments." Zhang Xinsheng compares the construction of the mobile payment industry ecosystem to the commanding heights of industrial development. In his view, the development of the mobile payment industry needs to seize two commanding heights: one is the technological and product height, and the other is the ecological environment. What the industry needs to recognize is that if the company only seizes the high ground of technology and products without seizing the ecological high ground, the future development of mobile payment will not succeed and will ultimately be a flash in the pan of technology.

　　"A healthy ecological environment is the prerequisite for the development of mobile payments." This is the view upheld by Chai Hongfeng, Executive Vice President of China UnionPay. The reason for emphasizing the importance of the ecological environment is that, in his view, mobile payment is still an innovative business that requires clear division of labor and mutual cooperation among all parties in the industry chain, and the development of feasible profit distribution mechanisms and business models.

　　Indeed, for an application in its early stages and spanning different industries, what often restricts its development is not technology, but the "environment"—whether there are unified standards among all parties, whether there is a recognition of win-win collaboration, and whether there is practical cooperation. Especially after years of advocacy, the standards are finally about to be implemented, helping all parties in the industry better understand the importance of win-win cooperation for the industrial ecosystem.

　　How can we build a sustainable industrial ecosystem? In Shangtai's view, this not only requires organizational coordination by regulatory authorities and necessary funding and policy support, but also clarifies positioning and collaborative advancement across all links of the industry chain. Therefore, he advocated that all parties in the industry should strengthen efforts and complement each other under the unified leadership of the People's Bank of China, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and other relevant authorities, within the unified framework of national and industry standards, and on the basis of already established industrial cooperation. On one hand, continue to promote the open sharing of mobile payment carriers and user resources; On the other hand, efforts should be made to integrate and share mobile e-commerce application content, vigorously expand industry applications, jointly build a networked and universal mobile payment platform, and ultimately establish a harmonious and win-win industrial ecosystem.

　　Kang Lin also offered suggestions on how to build a healthy and orderly mobile payment ecosystem. He believes that first, resources should be further opened, cooperation strengthened, and a favorable environment for industrial development should be created; Second, we need to increase our efforts in business promotion and focus on improving user experience; Finally, it is necessary to quickly establish a mobile payment risk prevention and security management mechanism.

　　Just as the natural environment is the fundamental condition for human survival, the ecological environment of industries is also a fundamental factor determining application development. Once the "bottleneck" of standards has been broken, accelerating the development of mobile payment applications in a healthy, orderly, and harmonious ecological environment should become a common goal across all links of the industry chain.