Don't lose your ticket…because it's also your phone
- Source: Global Times
- [23:32 January 31 2010]
- Comments
By Song Yuanyuan
Asia is the frontrunner in Near Field Communications (NFC), whereby you need only hold your mobile phone close to a reader to pay for groceries or cab fares, but for several years, China's gone without.
Photo: CFP
That's changing for the 2010 Shanghai Expo, where consumers need only buy a China Mobile SIM card that will serve as an entry ticket and a pre-loaded credit card for making purchases in the Expo park. China Mobile users get to keep their original phone numbers when they switch SIM cards, but those using other service providers would have to get a new number.
This special SIM card looks no different from common cards, but it includes a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chip that stores the visitor's profile and can exchange information with sensors installed in the park. Users who buy the SIM card before May 1 need only pay 150 yuan, the same as the price of a regular Expo ticket, meaning the SIM card is a freebie. The price will increase by 10 yuan from May 1 to October 31.
This RFID SIM card can also be activated to function as a “wallet” and loaded with cash at China Mobile stores or recharged online. Users can add 1,000 yuan at most in credit each time they recharge. The maximum balance is 10,000 yuan and the maximum amount per transaction is 500 yuan. When making a purchase in the Expo park, you need only scan your cell phone at the store's point-of-service (POS) terminal.
Wang Changhui from China Mobile in Shanghai told Lifestyle that they hope to promote this technology in more industries nationwide, not just at the Shanghai Expo. Future applications may include using mobile phones as subway passes or to pay for meals in restaurants.
The RFID SIM has other handy features as well. When visitors enter the park, they can easily find information regarding restaurants, convenience stores, rest rooms and the closest shuttle bus station, as well as the shuttle schedule. An electronic map will also indicate how crowded the exhibition center is.
Operator 30024 from the Shanghai Expo hotline 962010, who would not give his real name, explained that, “This high-tech ticket saves lots of check-in time and also make it easy for consumers to pursue a ticket at any one of China Mobile's 800 stores nationwide, as well as online.” He added, “It is also eco-friendly because it saves on paper tickets, while the electronic map saves from printing lots of guide brochures.”
An operator from China Mobile's 12580 hotline said that currently in Beijing, only some Holiland Bakery stores, Yunwei Sushi Restaurant in Xicheng district and Pinyi Coffee in Dongcheng district are equipped with the POS terminal. China Mobile users who have an RFID SIM card can just scan their cell phones to pay for purchases at those venues. More stores are planning to join the system, but details as to when these additional functions will be more broadly applied have yet to be released.
China Unicom in Shanghai currently offers a cell phone bundled with an NFC SIM card; subscribers can use their phones to pay for public transportation ticket on buses and subways. Information about individual RFID SIM cards yet is yet to come.
Not all cell phones can use the RFID SIM card, so interested customers should call China Mobile's hotline, at 12580, or log onto ticket.chinamobile.com to learn which mobiles can be used with the card.
