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Visa Trials Mobile Platform in Taiwan
(Wireless News Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)
Visa International is partnering with Chunghwa Telecom, Chinatrust
Commercial Bank (CTCB) and Nokia to launch a landmark trial in Taiwan
showcasing a feature-rich implementation of the Visa mobile platform.
The trial will bring together near field communication (NFC)-enabled
mobile phones, over-the-air (OTA) personalization, Visa payWave
contactless payments and merchant direct marketing offers sent to the
phone.
Gordon Cooper, regional head, mobile payment, Visa International, Asia
Pacific, said the public trial was a natural progression for
contactless payments in Taiwan, the leading Visa payWave contactless
market in the Asia Pacific.
"With more than 1.4 million Visa contactless cards in Taiwan,
cardholders are aware of the speed, security and convenience that
contactless payment delivers. This public trial is about extending our
Visa payWave contactless payment feature to the mobile device and we
are excited to be able to partner with Chunghwa Telecom, Chinatrust
Commercial Bank and Nokia to make it happen in the tech-savvy Taiwanese
market," Cooper said.
Luo Lian-fu, Chairman of Chinatrust Commercial Bank, said the public
trial built on the experience the bank and Taiwanese cardholders had
gained from Visa payWave and would provide important lessons for
delivering services that centered on consumers' mobile lifestyles.
The six-month trial involves 500 Chunghwa Telecom Call Call co-brand
cardholders using NFC-enabled Nokia 6131i handsets to make contactless
payments at any of the 3,000 stores that accept Visa payWave
contactless cards in Taiwan.
As the latest Taiwan mobile penetration rates indicate, the mobile
phone has become a daily necessity and an indispensable part of
people's lives. Ho-Chen Tan, Chairman of Chunghwa Telecom, said the
public trial was important as it would illustrate how payment could be
personalized on mobile devices. "We are delighted to partner with
leading financial and technology organizations - Visa, Chinatrust, and
Nokia - to enrich consumers' lives through the integration of payment
on to the mobile phone."
Consumers will be able to obtain merchant offers by pre-registering
their preferences to receive certain types of coupons or by holding
their phone up to special posters located in popular shopping areas,
thereby triggering on-demand download of specific merchant offers.
On-demand offers are supported through the use of posters and other
media embedded with NFC tags. All offers are stored in the
graphics-rich software application that manages the Visa payWave
payment on the Nokia handset.
As part of the mobile offers feature, Blockbuster will trial discount
coupons at all 61 of its branches in the Taipei metropolitan area while
11 other merchants have signed up to offer smart poster tags. These
merchants include selected restaurants, cafes, bars and cinemas.
"Smart tag offers will focus on merchants in the Xinyi District as it
is the most popular shopping, dining, and entertainment area in the
Taipei city. Our merchant partners will include Brown Cafe, Vieshow
Cinemas, and a wide array of restaurants at Eslite's flagship shop in
Xinyi," Luo Lian-fu, Chinatrust Commercial Bank said.
"Aside from the use of an OTA provisioning process and graphics-rich
handset software born out of the Visa mobile platform, we are excited
about complementing the Visa payWave experience with the mobile
marketing solution that is also a core component of the Visa mobile
platform. By incorporating mobile offers into this trial we will test
the potential of the mobile device to deliver value-added services that
complement the convenience of the Visa payWave contactless payment
service," Cooper said.
((Comments on this story may be sent to newsdesk@closeupmedia.com))
((Distributed on behalf of 10Meters via M2 Communications Ltd -
http://www.m2.com))
((10Meters - http://www.10meters.com))
Copyright 2007 Wireless News
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