With these new mobile payment technologies, China has leapfrogged both checkbooks and desktop banking. Jane Yang, for example, went straight from paying rent in cash to paying via Alipay. According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, 79 percent of Chinese consumers surveyed said they were happy to receive coupons via their mobile devices, versus just 53 percent globally. And 55 percent of Chinese consumers said they expected their phone to be the main way they made purchases in the future, versus 29 percent globally.

These changes coincide with rising overall incomes in China, and with the government’s desire to build a more consumer-based society, observes Tjun Tang, senior partner and managing director at Boston Consulting Group’s Hong Kong office. “In uptake of digital finance, China is probably leading the world right now,” he says.

I would argue the adoption of mobile payment technologies is mainly due to China's rising middle class using the mobile phone as their FIRST and ONLY computing device used to access these services. This has a profound effect on adoption and highlights why countries like China and India with "mobile first" mentalities will drive innovation elsewhere.