NTT DoCoMo and eB Card have developed a prepaid mobile payment application that allow DoCoMo’s customers to make payment, download maps and coupons with their NFC-enabled handsets while they are visiting Korea.
The cashbee app, which is available for download from December 18, will enable DoCoMo customers with NFC-compatible smartphones to make cashbee payments in South Korea in the same way they use DoCoMo’s Osaifu-Keitai mobile wallet services in Japan.
They can also use the cashbee app to obtain exclusive airport bus timetables, subway maps and coupons, DoCoMo said.
The cashbee brand was launched in December 2010 by eB Card, an affiliate company of the food and shopping multinational corporation Lotte Co. It currently has about five million users and is accepted at 54,000 locations, including department and convenience stores in the Lotte group, subways, buses and taxis.
By no coincide, PCCW-HKT in Hong Kong announced Tuesday a partnership with HSBC to further develop NFC-based mobile payment services in the city.
The two will deploy Single Wire Protocol (SWP) SIM cards that serve as the secure element for storing payment applications running on a mobile phone.
Commercial service is scheduled for launch in early 2014 with details of the applicable cards to be announced upon service launch, PCCW-HKT said.
The move is the telco’s latest push in NFC mobile payment services. PCCW-HKT has recently teamed with banking consortium JETCO to expand NFC-based mobile payment.
The company also forged a NFC mobile payment partnership with Hang Seng Bank last year.
Last month, Hang Seng Bank also extended its NFC m-payment partnerships with SmarTone and CSL.
3 HK meanwhile hooked up with Citibank to introduce NFC m-payment services.