HTC and Unionpay have announced that they will be working together on the first smartphone for the Chinese market that will process payments using Unionpay bankcard processing systems. Unionpay is the sole credit card processor in the country. The HTC smartphone will be the first to have integrated Unionpay mobile capability.
The Android smartphone will hit China as early as September. The smartphone will use NFC tech inside to complete payments using the credit card processing network of Unionpay. HTC didn’t offer details on the number of banks that are participating in China. China Unionpay is gearing up for its part by setting up arrangements in a dozen Chinese cities in cooperation with local banks for mobile processing.
China Unionpay may also promote the smartphone payment services outside of China as well. Unionpay has services in 120 different countries. HTC notes that it has been developing the handset for over a year and has been working with Unionpay for about six months.
[via ChinaDaily]
Interesting.