Far EasTone Telecommunications Co Ltd (遠傳電信) launched its mobile commerce service yesterday, boasting secure financial transaction and convenient pick-up services.
The new option for mobile phone shopping that doesn't require the replacement of current handsets is now available.
"With our mobile commerce platform, users can browse for products, place orders and make payments in one stop," said Jennifer Chang (
Far EasTone has cooperated with 7-Eleven outlets and the United World Chinese Commercial Bank (世華商銀), Hwa Nan Commercial Bank (華南銀行), E. Sun Bank (玉山銀行) and Far Eastern International Bank (遠東銀行) to develop the distribution and payment system.
After subscribing to the "m-commerce" service, customers can shop for books, music CDs, flight tickets, movie tickets and make reservations for local hotels and restaurants from their handsets.
Far EasTone said that if users of the service replaced their SIM (subscription identification module) cards with advanced SIM cards at a cost NT$500, security would be enhanced.
M-commerce business is expected to expand rapidly within the next few years, said Andrew Wong (王中永), vice president of Far EasTone's convergence service.
"Sales via m-commerce account for less than 3 percent of the entire mobile phone business in Taiwan. Far EasTone expects its m-commerce business to grow by up to 10 percent of the company's total sales next year," he said
An industry watcher, however, believes that mobile banking for the near-term will become far more popular than m-commerce. "Although Japanese mobile phone users intend to acquire entertainment and shopping information over cellphones, Taiwanese seem to prefer news and banking services," a telecom analyst at China Securities Co Ltd (
Similar services are available from Chunghwa Telecom Co Ltd (
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