Nokia Helps Visa Mobile Payment Launch

A partnership of large proportions has been built to introduce the Visa mobile platform in Taiwan. Nokia has decided to cooperate with Visa International, as well as with Chunghwa Telecom, Chinatrust Commercial Bank (CTCB), for launching a landmark trial for the starters.

The trial will be conducted over a period of six months and involves 500 Chunghwa Telecom Call Call co-brand cardholders using NFC-enabled Nokia 6131i handsets to make contactless payments. This will be done at most of the 3,000 stores that accept Visa payWave contactless cards in Taiwan at this time.

"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", said Gordon Cooper, regional head, mobile payment, Visa International, Asia Pacific.

The new service is supposed to have a considerable impact on the consumers' mobile lifestyles by making it easier to make purchases. Offers will be available by pre-registering the users' preferences to receive only special types of offers. They will have to hold the phone up to special posters located in several shopping areas in order to trigger on-demand download of specific offers.

Visa looks to test the potential of the mobile device to deliver value-added services that center around the use of their credit cards. Their mobile payment service has been released for some time now and seems to be doing pretty well, as they are now expanding it in Taiwan too.

Blockbuster will also release some special trial discount coupons at all its branches in the Taipei metropolitan area. There are over 10 other merchants that have signed up to offer smart poster tags as well for their restaurants, cafes, bars and cinemas.