Alibaba-owned Alipay has launched the capability to run mini programs. Mini programs are small apps that exist completely within the Alipay app and do not need to be downloaded in order for users to use them. App developers who want to create an Alipay mini program have been able to do so since the end of August. Alipay hopes that the launch of its mini programs feature will help it to compete against its biggest rival WeChat Pay. Alipay is a popular Chinese financial app, with 520 million users. It still trails far behind its rival WeChat, however, which has almost 1 billion users.
