Motorola (China) Electronics Ltd said yesterday it wanted to turn Asian handset users, including 700 million Chinese, into active banking customers through its “mobile wallet” idea.
“If we can have these people pay their utility bills via their mobile wallets, imagine the business activities that could be created for banks, vendors and telecommunication operators,” said T.K. Ng (吳達光), a Motorola (China) Electronics executive.
Without disturbing the vendor portals or cellphone models and subscriber identity module (SIM) cards now available in the marketplace or vendor portals, Motorola’s mobile wallet uses technology similar to that in credit cards on a tiny film that is half the size of a regular SIM card.
Speaking ahead of the company’s Mobile Wallet World 2009 conference, which opens today, Ng said the i-SIM near field communication (NFC) Lite card, designed to attach to regular SIM cards to create instant financial services, will be rolled out in Taiwan or China by the end of this year.
“Taiwan is the best testing ground for this type of technology because it is a country that is very receptive to new technologies and a successful roll-out in Taiwan will give more impetus for Chinese consumers to try it out,” he said.
The i-SIM NFC Lite card can integrate various types of cash cards, such as Taipei’s Easy Card (悠遊卡), gift, debit and credit cards, into a single platform to facilitate transactions, company executives said. The mobile wallet will also be able to register VIP cards and point collection cards at shops for discounts and promotional offers.
“With a simple swipe of the cellphone, discounts can be applied, reward points can be collected and gift cards can be used, all simultaneously,” Ng said.
“As with any technology, there will be initial and continuous safety issues that new businesses will perhaps have to solve,” Ng said, referring to possible security issues arising from hackers targeting cellphones.
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