99Bill's Smartphone Card Reader to Enable Massive Mobile Payment in China

BEIJING, May 8, 2012 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- 99Bill Corporation, China's leading electronic financial service provider, announced the official launch of its new mobile payment product 99Bill Card Reader. By simply plugging the tiny 99Bill Card Reader into Smartphone audio jack, merchants can accept bank card and credit card payments on the go, and make more sales quickly. The patented solution supports both iOS and Android platforms.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120508/CN02862)

Statistics shows that China has huge demands for card present transactions, but still lags behind other markets around the developed world where POS devices are extremely common. According to People's Bank of China, the nation had issued a total of nearly 3 billion bank cards by the end of 2011, an increase of 22% from the previous year. Meanwhile, there were only 3.18 million merchants using a total of 4.82 million POS devices in China.

The 99Bill Card Reader creates an entirely new card present payment solution for merchants and consumers by tuning smartphones into POS devices. According to iResearch, China's leading internet-based research firm, there were a total of 72.1 million smart phones being sold in 2011 alone, an increase of 103.1% over the previous year, and this trend is expected to continue in 2012 with an estimated 113 million being sold throughout the year. The increasing penetration of mobile devices gives 99Bill Card Reader a natural edge in this market segment.

With 99Bill's patented technology, the 99Bill card reader solution supports both pass code and signature based bank card transactions. This is especially important in the China market, where pass code enabled bank cards are the most common.

Oliver Kwan, CEO of 99Bill, said, "We always position ourselves as a comprehensive B2B and B2C payment solution provider for business customers. This Card Reader can significantly increase the number of bank card acceptance devices in China and give our business customers more choices to accept payments. We will continue to introduce more innovative payment solutions that really work, and help our customer grow their business."

The 99Bill Card Reader takes advantage of the convenience and ubiquitous nature of mobile devices to enable mobile selling for large companies and face-to-face transactions for small-to-medium size businesses. The first commercial use of such a product in mainland China, 99Bill has already signed agreements with three insurance companies to support their mobile sales forces. In China's mobile payment market, 99Bill has introduced a wide range of innovative products over times, including WAP, IVR, and InAPP based mobile payment services.

As China's leading provider of electronic financial services, 99Bill provides a comprehensive suite of electronic payment solutions that are actively used in 20 major industries, including airline, online and offline retail, insurance, education, logistics, etc. In 2011, the company obtained the six payment service licenses issued by the People's Bank of China, the most of any e-payment company in the industry.

SOURCE 99Bill Corporation