Korea's Seongnam City is piloting a scheme under which consumers will use mobile phones equipped with a credit card to pay for goods throughout the city, according to a report in the Korea Herald.
Under the three-year pilot, residents of Seongnam City, south of Seoul, will be issued with mobile devices fitted with payment cards to pay for goods and services at retail locations and in restaurants around the city, writes the paper. Users will simply enter a PIN on their phone handset to initiate a payment anywhere in the city, says the daily newspaper.
According to the Korea Herald report, the credit card-equipped phones will interact with cash registers and link to a central payment system spanning the whole city.
The mobile payment system, "Zoop", runs on infrared technology from Korean firm, Harex InfoTech, and will be delivered by Korean carrier, KTF, Kookmin Card, and KFT Technologies, says the report.