HTC is set to partner with Cathay United Bank, EasyCard and MasterCard in a bid to gain share of the mobile payments market. EasyCard is a Taiwanese smartcard network whose cards are used in contactless payment for transport ad retail purchases. Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported that the three companies will be holding a joint conference on June 19th to launch a co-branded card. The card aims to integrate credit card and contactless card payment functionality into a micro sized memory card, which can then be inserted into HTCs Incredible E smartphones to enable mobile payment. So far there are few phones in Taiwan using NFC (Near Field Communications) technology and this year demands are expected to hit approximately 100,000 units. Taiwanese local carriers are planning accelerate the adoption of NFC technology by building a standardised environment.
HTC signed an agreement in August 2011 with China UnionPay to launch the first NFC phone in China that offered mobile banking through the Taiwanese credit card network. However, unlike China UnionPay, the Taiwanese financial services companies and banks had no established joint mechanism to allow users to pay from different areas of the island. This has urged HTC to encourage the government of Taiwan to develop a mobile banking platform to set an example to the private sector.
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