The clash - and cash - of China's internet titans

A Beijing resident uses a mobile phone on the subway, June 25, 2017. [Photo/VCG]

Mobile everything

While companies that invest heavily in research and talent are reaping a fine e-harvest, ordinary people are sharing the bounty. Every day, life gets easier, faster and, very often, cheaper.

Ms. Sun from Beijing is a busy woman, but house-proud and concerned by stubborn kitchen stains and ice buildups in her freezer. Now, she has an app on her phone that brings professional cleaners to her door who solve her problems in no time at all. "It saves me time and energy," she said.

The mobile internet is breeding new professions and new industries with tailored services only a few taps away. The digitalized lifestyle is the real new normal: mobile payments, mobile entertainment, mobile socializing and even mobile "officing."

More than half a billion people now make mobile payments of some description, with 463 million using their phones to pay for ordinary daily purchases in shops and markets, according to CNNIC.

Over 270 million people are using apps simply to order meals, over 40 percent more than at the beginning of the year.

In 2016, over 157 trillion yuan changed hands via mobile payments, almost 50 percent more than in 2015, the People's Bank of China said.