WeChat 5.0 adds wide range of new services
Staff Reporter 2013-08-06 15:35
Taiwanese stars Show Luo and Rainie Yang promote WeChat. (Photo/CFP)
The long-awaited official update to the popular WeChat messaging service developed by Chinese internet giant Tencent offers a range of new features such as payment services, a game center and a sticker store.
With WeChat 5.0, officially released on August 5, Chinese users will reportedly be able to link an online banking account to pay for items, while merchants can set up corporate accounts that offer payment linkups handled by WeChat.
Pre-release reports claim that the highly anticipated new game center will come equipped with Tian Tian Ai Xiao Chu, WeChat's first game, and another 10 new games are in the pipeline.
The new WeChat sticker store will essentially aggregate all of its stickers into a centralized store for users to browse through, and paves the way to purchases of more premium stickers.
In addition, WeChat 5.0 will provide a new scanner for QR codes as well as a Hold Together function that lets users to add friends nearby by holding together a virtual button.
Earlier, Chinese tech website DoNews reported that the release of WeChat 5.0 was delayed indefinitely because the update had either infringed upon Apple Store rules or because of an incompatibility issue with Apple's yet-to-be-released iOS7 operating system. However, an Apple iOS developer denied that WeChat's new "internal" store would infringe on Apple rules, and also cast doubt on the Apple iOS7 compatibility issue because the new operating system is still only in the testing phase and at least two months away from official release.
Tencent has been looking for ways to monetize WeChat without compromising user experience, and analysts believe it is an opportune time to do so given that the service has reached nearly 500 million users.
