As smartphone and tablet users in Taiwan increase in number, more firms launch and expand their mobile payment services. (Photo : Reuters)
More companies from various industries, such as gaming, instant messaging and e-commerce, are tapping into Taiwan's mobile payment market as the country sees a surge in the number of smartphone and tablet users.
Website PChome Online mobile payment unit, Pi Mobile Technology, recently launched a "shopping wall" scheme, allowing users to purchase products advertised on posters and billboards via QR code scanning.
Jan Hung-tze, the firm's chairman, shared that the system will provide a more efficient avenue where merchants could sell their products. He said that all that is needed for the shopping wall system is a billboard.
Last year, group-purchasing Web portal Gomaji also launched a mobile payment application, allowing subscribers to pay bills at partner dining shops with their mobile gadgets. The firm eyes to broaden the number of the involved restaurants from 1,500 to 8,000 before next year.
In June, the mobile payment arm of the game developer Gamania Digital Entertainment also announced that it will be expanding its gaming services and foray into other services covering all aspects of life.
Meanwhile, instant messaging app Line is also set to unveil a taxi service in the island country this summer. The new service will let users pay their transportation fares through its money transfer and payment feature, Line Pay.
In recent data published by the Institute for Information Industry's Innovative Digitech-Enabled Applications and Services Institute, more than 17 million people in Taiwan aged 11 years old and above own a tablet or a smartphone.
The government's statistics office furthermore revealed that NT$8.6 trillion was the total amount of private consumption last year.
Taiwan's cash transaction business is valued at around NT$5 trillion, research firm AC Nielsen stated.
