South Korea's capital Seoul is planning to launch its own mobile payment platform, local media reports. The municipal government has formed a task force that will work to launch the service, tentatively called S-Pay, which aims to improve payment convenience for citizens and small businesses. The task force will aim to build the system for the platform and cooperate with banks as well as find partnered small businesses. The platform will use a mobile app or QR codes. The aim is to lessen commissions paid by businesses when they use credit cards. S-Pay's system won't go through credit card companies' systems. Seoul mayor Park Won-soon last week said in his inauguration speech that the aim was to reach a zero percent commission rate to lessen the burden of small businesses. The city is also working with Samsung SDS to apply blockchain into governance. It is also working with Ground X, a blockchain subsidiary run by chat giant Kakao, to fund blockchain social impact projects. South Korea completes 5G spectrum auction With the 3.5GHz and 28GHz spectrum auction complete, the South Korean government and telcos are set to roll out 5G in December. Seoul and Ground X to cooperate on blockchain social impact projects Providing the connectivity behind IoT solutions has seen Vodafone help recover almost 1,000 stolen vehicles, assist hundreds of children unable to attend school, and keep track of beer kegs across Australia. South Korea's IoT in full swing: From water meters to AI-powered smart buildings In South Korea's small towns and big cities, the Internet of Things (IoT) is changing everything from utilities to subways to buildings as more municipalities and companies capitalise on new computing and network technologies. Why Starbucks remains the mobile payment app leader ahead of Apple, Google, Samsung Focus, value added and convenience are big reasons why Starbucks remains the mobile payment app leader based on eMarketer data. Here's a look at the bigger digital transformation picture. Biometric mobile payments to hit 1T transactions, $51B in revenue by 2022 (TechRepublic) New report calculates more than 5.5 billion biometrically-enabled mobile devices will be in use by 2022, including fingerprint and face scans.
The municipal government of South Korean capital Seoul has formed a task force to develop and build the city's own mobile payment platform, provisionally dubbed S-Pay. The task force will collaborate with partner firms and banks on the platform, which is aimed at improving convenience for customers. The move is part of a broader push by Seoul mayor Park Won-soon to reduce the pressures on small businesses by achieving a zero percent commission rate.