Huawei has its own mobile payments platform (Huawei Pay), and the company has now announced its own Huawei Card to complement mobile payments.
Huawei Card to complement Huawei Pay mobile payments
The Chinese OEM is hoping Huawei Pay users will use its new card solution instead of others when making mobile payments. To this end, the new card, announced during the company’s P40 phone announcement, is extremely simple to the Apple Card. First, it is physical and virtual, allowing users to either use a physical “swipe” card or as a card to be scanned on a smartphone.
First-year Card users won’t have to pay an annual fee, often required for credit cards. Those who spend so much money through Huawei Pay can get a second year fee-free. Travel benefits, promotions in apps, cashback rebates, and lounge access (for heavy spenders) are some of the sweet treats for Card users.
There’s no particular date for the launch of the new mobile card, so interested parties will have to wait until further details surface.
Why now?
Why is Huawei launching a physical/virtual plastic accessory now? That’s the question. Well, no one knows what is on the company agenda. What is true, however, is that Huawei wants to capitalize (pun intended) on the mobile payments sector. In the United States, for example, mobile payments are taking off, for bill payments and even online delivery. With mobile trends growing as a result of the current global pandemic, Huawei realizes it could make a profit in one significant area. And with phone sales declining in China and elsewhere as a result of the pandemic, Huawei can make up some of its losses in another area.
Huawei is like other OEMs when it comes to profit. Samsung has Samsung Pay. Google has Google Pay. Apple has Apple Pay. OnePlus even has OnePlus Pay. All these companies want their own payment platforms because they make so much profit per financial transaction. Huawei is all about marketing its perception as “on par” with the giants (Apple and Samsung, in particular). Mobile payments is as top-of-the-line as it gets.
The Card may not prove profitable
Huawei finds itself in a bit of a global conflict at the moment. The company is currently under a US ban, and is likely to continue under it this year. Then there’s the fact that Huawei is under suspicion worldwide as a tool of Chinese espionage. Huawei and Beijing are too closely intertwined, so much so that, whenever Huawei conducts its business, Beijing government officials appear. Some countries such as Britain are willing to give Huawei some share in its 5G network, but others don’t trust the company in their networks at all.
The Card would arrive in the midst of all this suspicion. A number of European citizens may not be willing to entrust their financial information to Huawei. When it comes to mobile payments, OEM platforms must cooperate with banks to make them possible. Those who believe Huawei to be a tool of Chinese espionage wouldn’t want to entrust Huawei with their payment details and transaction information. And in the US, the new Card is as banned as every other Huawei product.
In the end, the Card solution could prove successful in China. It may prove successful in a few other countries. The question comes down to whether or not Huawei can be trusted. And that question has an array of answers currently.