It's going to be particularly quick to catch on in those parts of the world where prepaid cell phone accounts are the norm and people are already comfortable with the notion of handing cash to a merchant and getting nothing but an electronic blip in return.
Spinoffs these days are being driven by the growing influence of hedge funds, where impatient managers buy up shares of a company and pressure managers to sell off parts of a business to spur quick market gains, many experts say.
Even while praising the relatively quick response so far, Mr. Ross warned that some parts of China's disease-prevention infrastructure could still stand to be improved.