IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Fall 2013 - 24

devices units will be installed and the numbers will
increase when growth opportunity is identified.
In 2008, KT established its Mobile Credit joint
venture with Shinhan Card. In february 2011, KT
merged with BC card and started a new business
combining the mobile communication and financial
industry using BC card's financial infrastructure. SKT
acquired Hana Card from Hana financial Group, but
had only 70 000 subscribers as of January 2011 and
100 000 subscribers as of June 2011. This implies
that SKT is pursuing a convergence (of finance and
mobile communication) strategy to drive its growth.
By collaborating with Hana Card, it will expand its
mobile credit card business and retain existing customers by providing combined payment and mobile
phone services. It can also provide numerous additional services (such as ads and discount vouchers) by
compiling customer relationship management (CRM)
information from mobile payments (e.g., location,
purchase patterns, preferences). The Hana-SK Card
aims to attain a surplus in its smart payment division
in 2011. To lay the foundation for platform growth in
2011, it pursued four different strategies: 1) leading
the mobile payment market, 2) increasing synergy in
the captive market, 3) enhancing its core capabilities
as a card firm, and 4) vitalizing new businesses. By
collecting CRM information based on customers' life
cycle and location, it aims to lead the field of mobile
applications. By relying on the convergence of communication and finance, SKT can now respond in an

NTT
DoCoMo
(Felica)

Type
Elements
Mobile
Network
Operator

SKT
KT

M&A

Financial
Enterprise

agile manner to the volatile mobile market and stay
ahead of the market trend.
NfC is a great business opportunity for Korean
mobile network operators. A commission-based business model will prevail initially, and an advertisement
platform business model will emerge later. This discussion can be summarized as follows (fig. 1):
1) Partnership with mobile network operators: NTT
DoCoMo.
2) Alliance with strong ties between mobile network
operators and financial enterprise: ISIS, SKT, KT.
3) Alliance with financial enterprise without mobile
network operators : Visa.
4) Alliance with platform providers without mobile
network operators: Google, Apple.

Success Factors of NFC Commercialization
One-Chip Realization
If mobile phone prices increase because of specific
applications and functions, consumers face stronger
constraints. In an mobile network operator-led market, operators can influence distribution channels and
provide subsidies to mitigate the effects of the price
increase. for developing nations, where an open market (without subsidy) is prevalent however, users have
to wait for the price increases to drop a negligible
level. The price of mobile devices with NfC solutions
should not be a burden to consumers in the initial
market. It is necessary to supply NfC chips at prices

VISA

ISIS

Google

Apple

New
Company

Payment
Service
Google

Apple

Retailer

Business Leading Player

Partner Player

Fig. 1. Type of partnership with service providers.
24

IEEE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY MAGAZINE

fALL 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Fall 2013