By Yoon Ja-young
Office worker Kim Haeng-seong has seen his wallet slim down. It used to be full of various membership cards, discount coupons, and credit cards, but the mobile wallet he downloaded on his smartphone lets him put all of them on his handset.
A survey of salaried workers in their 20s and 30s by KT showed they had on average four credit cards and 12 membership cards, and they were carrying between three to seven cards in their wallets.
The number of users for mobile wallet services has been steadily increasing.
SK Planet, SK Telecom’s mobile platform, announced that the number of subscribers to its “Smart Wallet” service reached 3 million 18 months after it was launched.
The service is affiliated with 108 brands, including “Happy Point,” a mileage program including Dunkin Donuts and Baskin Robbins, and “Lotte Members,” the membership program of Lotte, one of the country’s retail giants. The smart wallet can be used in around 60,000 shops around the country. One has only to download the application and the diverse membership cards, coupons, gift certificates of department stores and credit cards will be on the smartphone.
According to SK Planet, 80 percent of the subscribers are in their 20s and 30s, and they have on average three mobile credit cards and membership cards included in the service.
KT, the country’s second largest mobile carrier, has also launched the “olleh myWallet” app. On top of registering diverse membership cards, the service recommends which credit card the subscriber should use to get the biggest discount at a shop. It also offers diverse coupons as a promotional event.
To use the credit card service, the smartphone should support near-field communication (NFC) functions, or wireless communication using tiny computer chips and a radio frequency.
“oh myWallet” provides a more advanced conversion service of telecommunications and finance, even compared to “Google Wallet,” thanks to the diverse affiliated services. The expansion of NFC smartphones will increase these services that make our lives more convenient,” said Yang Hyeon-mi, an executive at KT.
LG Uplus, the smallest carrier, is providing “USIM Wallet,” a mobile wallet service, for long-term evolution (LTE) smartphone users. One can register up to 10 credit cards.
Global mobile giants like Google and Apple are also eyeing mobile wallet services as the next growth engine. Google launched “Google Wallet” which Citi Card and Master Card joined, and Apple is expected to lure iPhone users to its financial system by including an NFC feature on the iPhone 5 and setting up its own payment system.
“The NFC is much more than a substitution for the credit card,” said Kim Tae-hyun, a researcher at the Korea Information Society Development Institute.
“As diverse functions such as marketing and information provision, on top of payments, are presented on one chip, users enjoy convenience and financial businesses expand users. Diverse content such as financial information and location-based services can be converged with it.”