Wifi Revolution

In partnership with Chunghwa Telecom, Chinatrust Commercial Bank (CTCB) and Nokia (News - Alert), Visa International is launching a trial in Taiwan showcasing a feature-rich implementation of the Visa mobile platform. Taiwan is reportedly the leading Visa payWave contactless market in the Asia Pacific.

 

Visa expects that the six-month 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.

 

According to Gordon Cooper, regional head, mobile payment, Visa International, Asia Pacific, the public trial was a natural progression for contactless payments in Taiwan. He said that 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 (News - Alert), Chinatrust Commercial Bank and Nokia to make it happen in the tech-savvy Taiwanese market,” said Cooper in a statement.

 

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.

 

Under the trial, 500 Chunghwa Telecom Call Call co-brand cardholders using NFC-enabled Nokia 6131i handsets will make contactless payments at any of the 3,000 stores that accept Visa payWave contactless cards in Taiwan. Ho-Chen Tan, chairman of Chunghwa Telecom emphasized that the public trial was important as it would illustrate how payment could be personalized on mobile devices.

 

Visa explains that consumers can obtain merchant offers by pre-registering their preferences to receive certain types of coupons. Consumers can also hold their phone up to special posters located in popular shopping areas, thereby triggering on-demand download of specific merchant offers. The company is offering support to on-demand offers through the use of posters and other media embedded with NFC tags. Visa further explains that all offers are stored in the graphics-rich software application that manages the Visa payWave payment on the Nokia handset.

 

Dave Wentker, vice president of mobile innovation, Visa International believes that today's announcement is the latest demonstration of Visa's mobile vision - to provide the services and enabling technologies for innovative mobile programs that bring value to financial institutions, mobile operators, merchants and their customers.

 

“We're pleased to be working with our partners on this trial and look forward to seeing how Taiwanese consumers will use and react to these mobile services,” he added.

 

 

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