Another alliance member, Shen Yang Badatong E-Commerce Co., Ltd., is equipping thousands of merchant locations with VeriFone NFC acceptance systems to enable payment and redemption via NFC at the point of sale.

This represents the first implementation of VeriFone's PAYMEDIA Mobile Marketing Platform (MMP), an end-to-end solution that enables merchants, brands and third parties to launch highly targeted campaigns to mobile wallet subscribers.

"VeriFone solutions make it possible for consumers and merchants to fully leverage the power and simplicity of NFC technology supported by Bank of China and China Mobile," said Zvi Mitlanski, senior vice president, VeriFone Asia Pacific. "This implementation demonstrates the potential of VeriFone's Payments-as-a-Service vision and strategy, and provides Shen Yang with a complete infrastructure for provisioning, integrating and managing wallets and other mobile apps."

A key element in the NFC implementation is VeriFone's PAYMEDIA Universal Acceptance Platform (UAP), which provides the Shen Yang alliance with a complete solution for full control over NFC mobile commerce acceptance. As an open standard, the UAP allows for mobile commerce over any enabled acceptance network.

"Bank of China and China Mobile are implementing a true end-to-end NFC infrastructure, working with Shen Yang Badatong to make NFC payment and mobile commerce a reality for merchants and consumers," added Mitlanski.

PAYMEDIA UAP enables Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and wallet providers to easily download wallet acceptance applications directly to merchants' point of sale systems and allows merchants to connect these apps to providers via VeriFone's cloud-based gateway. PAYMEDIA MMP complements mobile wallet acceptance by driving consumers to merchants with offers, promotions and digital coupons that can be used as they complete their transactions.

China Mobile and Bank of China expect to issue an initial 50,000 SIM cards during the cu current year. The SIM cards will be marketed to subscribers through bank branches and China Mobile customer support centers.

VeriFone is planning to replicate this service in additional cities and provinces across China and globally, partnering with wallet providers, MNOs and integrators. PAYMEDIA MMP will be featured in VeriFone's exhibit (Hall 7 Stand 7B51) at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, 25-28 February.