Although Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has not yet opened operations in the US, the rapid development of US e-retailer Amazon, particularly in cloud computing, poses a great challenge to the Chinese company, the Shanghai-based China Business News reports.
However, Amazon’s shares have jumped about 59.38% from US$284 to US$452.65 over the past six months. At its closing share price on June 26, Amazon’s market value was US$203.45 billion, not far off Alibaba’s US$205.29 billion.
The main driving force behind the rise in Amazon’s shares however was not its e-commerce business but its cloud computing services, the report said.
Alibaba has also launched its cloud computing business through its dedicated unit Aliyun (AliCloud). Aliyun has also set up a data center in Silicon Valley and is in collaboration with US data center company Equinix to offer direct access to cloud services in the United States.
Amazon has been spending on original content for its prime streaming-video service and has dipped its toes into set-top boxes and even smartphones, and now the retail giant seems poised to conquer mobile payments. The company just launched Amazon Local Register, a US$10 credit card reader and app combo built to take on merchant mainstays like Square.
