EngagingChina
has long been cynical of so-called mobile payment initiatives that
promote the mobile phone as an alternative to traditional forms of
payment, be they credit/debit cards or cash.
But if new payment methods are going to take root anywhere, then that country is probably China, not least because of the economies of scale that 460m mobile phone users provide and the limited use of credit cards.
SmartPay, a Chinese e-payment services provider, hopes to get some of them as customers and it has just launched various payment services in partnership with China Unicom for Shandong province. The services include airline ticketing, lottery payment, utility bills and certain kinds of retail transaction.
SmartPay and Unicom also announced the launch of network of recharging and retail sales points for payment services using SmartPay's mobile payment technologies.
SmartPay's services in Shandong have been in their trial phase since June of 2005.
Investors in SmartPay include RRE Ventures, Evolution Capital, Lunar Group Capital, Accel Partners and others.
