Alliance promotes contactless communication

Edited by the Electronicstalk editorial team Dec 16, 2004

Philips Semiconductors has joined Taiwan's Proximity Mobile Transaction Service Alliance.

Philips Semiconductors has joined Taiwan's Proximity Mobile Transaction Service Alliance, an initiative of the Committee of Communication Industry Development within the Ministry of Economics Affairs, ROC.

The objective of the alliance is to promote contactless communication and mobile e-payment services by integrating the products and services of industry members such as chip/electronics manufacturers, transportation providers, financial institutions and telecomms services vendors.

The alliance will include companies such as Acer, BenQ, Chung-Hwa Telecom, Far EastTone Telecommunication, Taiwan Cellular Corp, Asia Pacific Broadband Wireless Communications, VIBO Telecom, MasterCard International, Visa International and Philips.

Taipei Smart Card Co (TSCC) will be acting as project manager to implement the contactless infrastructure in Taiwan.

Philips supports the alliance based on its expertise in near field communication (NFC) technology for contactless transactions, which combines the functions of a contactless reader, a contactless card and peer-to-peer functionality on a single chip.

Beyond developing a contactless mobile transaction business model, the first practical step will include using NFC-enabled mobile handsets on the public transportation system in Taipei.

The project will work on the existing Mifare-based infrastructure - which uses the Easy Card issued by TSCC.

Simultaneously, the alliance will work to implement an NFC contactless interface in the retail and banking environments.

Many different technologies and fields of expertise need to be integrated to create a complete mobile business service application.

Industry-leading firms within the alliance are providing their technologies and expertise, ranging from core NFC technology, semiconductor system and subsystem modules, through the development of NFC-enabled mobile phones and devices.

They will also develop mobile telephone service providers' value added services including e-Wallet, mobile payments and point of sale infrastructure and a software stack supporting a mobile transaction platform together with user interfaces.

"As a major provider of mobile transaction applications in Taiwan, Philips is honoured to become a member of the alliance".

"The biggest technology challenge for mobile business transactions is to ensure the integrity and security of data transmission", said Marconi Jiang, General Manager for Philips Semiconductors Taiwan.

"Philips' NFC technology and longstanding experience with global smart card systems using Philips' Mifare contactless chip technology can help establish a secure mobile transaction environment through the cooperation with other members of the scheme".

"In the near future, consumers will be able to use public transport, visit a cinema or a concert or go shopping just by using an NFC-enabled mobile phone or PDA".

"This is the ultimate convenience for the connected consumer".