HTC and CUP Partnering for NFC Payments
- The manufacturer HTC should launch its first NFC mobile phones, HTC Stunning, this year on the Chinese market. These Android-based phones would support CUP mobile payment standards. Rumours mentioning a new NFC compatible Smartphone are then confirmed. This new tool has been under study for a year.
- CUP is currently working on strategic agreements, in partnership with local banks, in about twelve Chinese towns to provide for the development of mobile contactless payment.
- HTC and CUP also benefit from Shanghai F-Road Commercial Services’ know-how, as it has been purchased in January 2011 by HTC. This company specialises in mobile apps for financial institutions.
- CUP has just outrun Visa in terms of number of cards in circulation (according to a report published by RBR, 29.2% of the cards worldwide are CUP cards, compared to 28.6% for Visa). The China-based network also tries to secure this leading position through technological innovation and supporting contactless mobile payment.
- In China, 900 million mobiles are in circulation, compared to 700,000 POS terminals. Also, according to a study conducted by TNS, 25% of the mobile phone owners use these tools to access financial services, as opposed to 10% only in 2010.