After signing a deal to provide mobile payment-capable smartphone to China UnionPay, HTC, the world’s fifth largest smartphone maker, has called for a smartphone based mobile payment platform in Taiwan.
“Our cooperation with China UnionPay is just the beginning, and we believe the mobile payment app will also become a critical application in Taiwan,” Steve Wang, associate vice president of HTC’s mobile application and software design, told CNA after a press conference held to promote the development of Chinese-language mobile apps.
Unlike China UnionPay, which has 2.6 billion credit and debit cards in circulation in different countries worldwide, Taiwan’s financial service companies and banks have not yet jointly established a mechanism that allows users to make mobile payments in different regions around the country, Wang said.
Contactless payment cards have been popular in Taiwan in recent years, making it easier for consumers to adopt m-payments. But due to the lack of an industry standard and coordination, among other challenges, there has yet to emerge an m-payment platform in Taiwan.
The HTC executive hopes the government can kick-start the process by launching mobile banking services in some state-owned banks, which will set an example for the private sector.
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