Watchdata reports that a new mobile payment service based on Watchdata’s SIMpass technology has been launched in Chongqing City by China Unicom and Chongqing Yucheng Transportation Card.

The new service – CQpass uses a SIMpass™ enabled custom-made mobile phone which is developed under the cooperation between China Unicom, Chongqing Yucheng Transportation Card, Guohong Telecom and Digital Group Co., Ltd. and Watchdata. This is one of the latest successful projects of Watchdata following the Guangzhou, Xiamen and Thailand SIMpass™ projects.

The Cqpass mobile payment service has all the functions similar to the regular Yucheng Tong Card and can be used to pay for bus rides, cable car rides, hotels, parks entrance and restaurants. It also features transaction record query and card number display. In 2009, the project will start the development of its second stage of application that would link the subscriber’s bank account to enable the OTA top-up functionality.

The commercial launch of Cqpass service also marks the first release of Watchdata’s SIMpass™ custom-made mobile phone. The SIMpass™ antenna is integrated into the back cover of the mobile phone, without making major changes on the mobile phone main board. The RF antenna then connects to the SIMpass card in the standard SIM card slot. It is the most innovative solution to enable mobile phone users to do onsite contactless payment transactions. There are currently two phone models to choose from for the Cqpass mobile payment service, the Changhong DG28 and Changhong F4. Both mobile phone models can each have dual-SIM capability. The two models are priced at RMB759 (US$112) for Changhong DG28 and RMB857 (US$126) for Changhong F4.

In 2008, Watchdata’s SIMpass™ technology was applied to enable subway ticketing via mobile phone in Guangzhou City in the province of Guangdong China. Its functionalities and good performance are well received by the local residents. In Thailand, the hot-selling Touch SIM of mobile telecom giant TrueMove is also a product based on Watchdata SIMpass™ technology. Other SIMpass™ successful projects include Xiamen, Dalian, Suzhou and Hunan province.