HTC Stunning NFC phone to launch in China this September

HTC Stunning NFC phone to launch in China this September for NFC payments with China UnionPay

HTC has announced that it intends to launch an NFC phone, the HTC Stunning, in China next month. It was just yesterday we were looking at the implications that could result in HTC trademarking CLOSECONNECT, and just a day later we start to get a clue on what HTC has in mind. HTC is partnering with China UnionPay to launch the HTC Stunning through the countries only credit card network. The HTC Stunning NFC phone will be capable of making NFC payments at 400,000 POS machines in China, and these are likely to increase to 700,000 by the end of this year.

HTC Stunning NFC phone specs

Specifications for the HTC Stunning NFC phone are pretty much non-existent at this point. We know the phone has a 4-inch screen and runs on some flavor of Android, but that is about it. There is no word on processor, NFC chipset or screen technology yet and we don’t even know whether the phone will rock Android Gingerbread. The HTC Desire S is already NFC-enabled in India, so the HTC Stunning is technically not HTC’s first NFC phone. However, it is expected to be the first of HTC’s specific NFC handsets to be released, and more are expected within the next few months. HTC declined to give pricing on the HTC Stunning but it is expected to be cost effective to help usher in the new era of NFC payments in China. HTC has been working on its new NFC phone for sometime ChinaDaily reported.

“HTC has been developing the mobile payment handset for more than a year. We cooperated with China UnionPay for merely six months before we introduced the device,” Dennis Chen, head of the Asia and China Enterprise Department of HTC Corp, said. ”We support China UnionPay’s mobile payment standard because it is an industry standard and is open for any mobile devices. It means customers will have more choices,” Chen added.

“HTC believes that mobile payments will become an indispensable function for smartphones, and we expect to jointly establish a complete industry chain of mobile payments based on such a strategic alliances,” Fred Liu, President of HTC Engineering and Operations, said in the statement.

China is ready for the HTC Stunning NFC phone and NFC payments

The market scale of China’s mobile payment industry reached 20.3 billion yuan ($3.16 billion) in 2010, according to China E-commerce Research Center. China UnionPay estimated China’s mobile payment market would experience an annual growth rate of 40 percent, an amount equal to 150 billion yuan ($23.4 billion), by 2013. So, NFC payments are set to come to China and projections so far show a robust adoption rate. China has 900 million mobile users so it represents a huge market for any company that is able to deploy NFC mobile payments. China UnionPay is the only player in town and HTC has scored a partnership that could see millions of HTC stunning NFC phone sales both inside and outside of China.

“Mobile phone users no longer have to bring their bank cards in the future, because their smartphones can provide the same function,” Chai Hongfeng, Executive Vice-President of China UnionPay, stated at a news briefing in Shanghai.

China United Telecommunications Corp Ltd. (China Unicom) established a mobile payment arm on April 18 and is largely expected to be the Chinese carrier who partners with China UnionPay to sell the new HTC is expected to leverage its subsidiary F-Road HTC Stunning NFC phone. HTC bought a US$5.5m stake in F-Road in January this year.

We may still be waiting on pricing and specification for the HTC Stunning NFC phone, but what is becoming clear is that HTC is getting serious about the inclusion of NFC in its products