Swatch Group Launches New Smartwatches for China's Mobile-Payment Market
July 18 2017 - 5:00AM
Dow Jones News
SHANGHAI--Swiss watch giant The Swatch Group (SWGAY) on Tuesday
launched the second generation of its chip-embedded watches that
can be used for mobile payments in China.
The new watches can be linked credit cards issued by 11 partner
banks, in addition to debit cards. In October 2015, Swatch unveiled
its first-generation watches with payment functions in partnership
with China Unionpay, the country's dominant currency-clearing
company and credit-card issuer.
Nick Hayek, chief executive of Swatch Group, said the chip
technology will ensure personal data privacy as well as a longer
battery life compared with other smartwatches.
Swatch has also simplified the activation process, which was the
main barrier for the first-generation watches in gaining market
share, said Mr. Hayek.
The company has agreements with Chinese banks including Bank of
China, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China CITIC Bank
and Minsheng Bank to support its payment system.
Chinese consumers completed 58.8 trillion yuan ($8.68 billion)
of mobile transactions in 2016, compared with 12.2 trillion yuan
the previous year, said Zhou Yuedong, vice president of the
credit-card center at Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.
In December 2015, Apple launched its mobile-payment system in
partnership with China Unionpay. Chinese smartphone makers such as
Huawei and Meizu have also rolled out payment platforms.
--Yifan Xie
Write to Yifan Xie at yifan.xie@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 18, 2017 04:45 ET (08:45 GMT)
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