Smart card and data security specialist Watchdata has produced its two millionth Simpass SIM+antenna NFC device, the company has announced.

“This marks an exciting and a very fruitful beginning for Watchdata as we continue to progress in the mobile payment space and offer a simple, yet practical mobile proximity payment solution that has received an excellent market adoption,” says Dr Sean Gao, Watchdata’s vice president of product and marketing. “We are looking to replicate the success of Simpass in China around the world, making it the unifying solution for different stakeholders that would hopefully become a mobile payment standard in the industry.”

Watchdata has scored a number of wins in China over the last twelve months and has also announced it is working with Bank Asya in Turkey on a microSD version of Simpass.

• China Telecom introduced Simpass in Jiangsu Province in December 2009. “China Telecom witnessed people lining up for the product in the City of Nanjing and Suzhou, two of the most popular tourist destinations in Jiangsu, as they realized the convenience of incorporating multi-application capabilities to their current mobile phone by simply replacing the SIM card with Simpass,” says Watchdata. “People enjoy the ease of taking public transport, including buses, subways and taxis by tapping the phone onto the contactless reader.”
• In early 2010, China Telecom and Changsha Public Transport introduced a Simpass-based ‘EasyPay All-in-One Mobile’ service in Hunan Province. The project with China Telecom’s Hunan branch and Changsha Public Transport was completed in less than two months, says Watchdata, including business negotiations, technical solution discussions, onsite testing and card production. “This further validates Simpass as a viable mobile payment solution that is fast and easy to implement and deploy,” says the company.
• Recently, China Telecom introduced a new Simpass-based mobile payment service in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province called the ‘E Surfing Great Wall Card’. Delivered in conjunction with China UnionPay and Bank of China, the new service allows users to make secure contactless payment at some 7,000 merchants and nearly 20,000 POS terminals. Consumers equipped with a Simpass device can also use it as an e-ticket in more than 1,300 buses on 125 bus lines in Ningbo. This deployment offers the users with the convenience of shorter transaction and queue times as well as a quick, secure and hassle-free cashless payment experience.
• In Turkey, Bank Asya has announced it is collaborating with Watchdata to provide microSD-based NFC mobile payments under the DIT Mobil brand name. The DIT Mobil service will use Watchdata’s SDpass technology, a microSD version of the company’s Simpass solution.

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