SK Telecom Partners With Samsung For Mobile Payments
SK Telecom is possibly the carrier with the longest track record of offering a mobile payment solution through its mobile phones (see our post last year.) And they have had decent growth of the Moneta service which allows users to pay at point-of-sale retail locations with infrared, or at public transit using RFID, or person-2-person. Today, SKT and Samsung have announced a partnership to increase the distribution of the SKT Moneta chip solution in Samsung credit cards. This is particularly interesting because it is a phone company payment system that is making its way out of phones, and into conventional payment instruments. This was the strategic goal of SKT from the outset. Unfortunately, it will be a difficult example for carriers around the world to follow, unless they, too, hold a 55% market share in a market where almost everyone has a phone.
