Alipay.com, the Internet payment subsidiary of the Chinese e-commerce group Alibaba, has announced that it has launched a new convenient Internet payment service.

According to Ouyang Weimin, director of Payment System Department of the People's Bank of China, PBOC plans to issue licenses to Chinese online third-party payment platforms to bring more competition and a higher level of security into this industry.

Taobao.com, the Internet shopping subsidiary of the Chinese B2B e-commerce group Alibaba, has announced that it will cooperate with China Mobile to launch a new mobile phone short message-based price comparison service.

According to China Mobile's Shanghai branch, its regulations related to micropayments made with mobile phones have been completed and consumers in Shanghai will soon be able to pay with mobile phones in McDonald's and Starbucks.

According to Zhou Wenbiao, director for online sales and operations of Google (GOOG) Asia-Pacific, Google AdSense will launch an e-payment service for its Chinese publishers before the end of 2008.

Chinese online payment company 99Bill has launched an installment credit service — a first in China for e-payment services — to allow consumers to buy goods by paying in installments.

Alibaba's Zhejiang Alipay Internet Technology Ltd has signed a cooperative agreement with China Netcom Xuzhou branch to jointly develop services in the online payment sector.

According to the Survey Report on Online Shopping in China 2008 released by China Internet Network Information Center, the total amount of online shopping in 19 big cities in China reached CNY16.2 billion in the first half of 2008.

By Francis Peters Although Internet usage in China has boomed over the past ten years, the nation's retail e-commerce is still in startup mode, particularly compared to the United States.