SK Telecom Launched a mobile payment service ‘T-Pay’ applied with Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) hands free payment platform as well as a barcode payment feature. T-Pay has already surpassed 100,000 subscribers in just two short weeks since its launch on March 15, 2016.
Based on a BLE hands free payment platform developed by SK Telecom, T Pay sets itself from other mobile payment apps/services by allowing users to make purchases without ever touching their phones.
So far BLE technology in the field of commerce was mainly used for detecting customer location or sending information/coupons one way through Bluetooth beacons. With the launch of T Pay, SK Telecom successfully attained further advancement in BLE technologies by enabling two-way communication between BLE POS (Point of Sale) and customers’ smartphones to realize hands free payment.
After downloading the T Pay app*, users can buy items simply by saying that they want to pay with T Pay. The store POS and customer’s smartphone exchange customer and payment information via BLE communications. The cashier identifies the user through the user nickname or mobile phone number that appears on the store POS screen. Then, the user can securely complete the payment process by entering his/her registered password on the signature pad.
T Pay app is currently available at Android Play and T Store free of charge, and will be available at Apple App Store within the first half of 2016.
Moreover, T Pay is also built with a barcode payment feature. It generates one-time barcodes every three minutes to ensure a higher level of security in the payment process, and also encrypts all payment-related data that travels over the network to thoroughly protect customers’ personal information.
T Membership is SK Telecom’s customer membership program that offers special discounts at partner/member stores including restaurants, bakeries, convenient stores, etc. That is, customers who use T Pay will receive discounts offered by the T Membership program without having to show their plastic or mobile T Membership card at offline stores.
All purchases made via T Pay are charged to customer’s mobile phone bill. Customers aged 19 or older can purchase up to KRW 500,000 (approx. USD 427) per mobile number, per billing month. As T Pay does not require users to enter credit card or bank account information, customers do not have to worry about leakage of their financial information.
On March 27, 2016, the number of T Pay subscribers exceeded 100,000. In addition, 65% of T Pay subscribers are customers in their 20s and 30s, who are relatively more sensitive to discount benefits and capable of flexibly adapting to changes for greater convenience.
As of now, customers can use T Pay at over 40 percent of T Membership off-line partner stores nationwide, and the company’s goal is to expand that figure to 90 percent by the third quarter of 2016.
