Gemalto will partner with Taiwan’s Far EasTone Telecommunications to start Asia’s first mobile contactless SIM-based NFC trial in November. This trial is part of the GSM Association’s “Pay-Buy Mobile” initiative which seeks to define a common global approach to using NFC technology to link mobile devices with payment and contactless systems.

Far EasTone subscribers participating in the trial will be able to make mobile contactless purchases at any Far EasTone trial partner merchant with the same ease and convenience as if using an ordinary contactless payment card. Additionally, a fun new way to shop is to interact with “smart posters”. Taiwan’s hypermarket chain, Far Eastern Geant for instance, will hang posters embedded with NFC tags at their stores. Shoppers walk by, wave their NFC mobile across the poster and walk away with a coupon downloaded to the SIM for use at the checkout or for later purchases. This type of shopping gesture is just one of the exciting new ways to connect the mobile lifestyle with the convenience of contactless. Moreover, subscribers can view and interact with services provisioned using the mobile’s own web browser. In this way, subscribers see the services on the SIM presented as a web page.

Consecutive trial phases, leading to commercial rollout in 2008, will gradually introduce a broader variety of different merchants, partners and services including Taiwan’s largest convenience store chain 7-Eleven, department store Shin Kong Mitsukoshi, vending machines from HeySong and rail transport operated by Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corporation. (Gemalto)