Visa International reported two more breakthroughs last week in its Asia-Pacific electronic payments hotbed.
The card association announced its first Internet payment in Japan using SET, the Secure Electronic Transactions specification it has been promoting jointly with MasterCard International.
And in Taiwan, Visa's Chip Loyalty Specifications were used for the first time in a smart card frequent-shopper program.
These were just two in a rapid-fire series of announcements from both MasterCard and Visa that reflect considerable progress in taking credit card transactions to the Internet and making computer chips a standard component of plastic cards.
More such pilots and demonstrations are under way in Asia and Australia than in North America, a result of both general high-tech enthusiasm and explicit government policies that promote electronic commerce.
Distinguishing Visa's Japanese announcement was the fact that SET is an element in one of the world's most ambitious electronic commerce blueprints. Among its culminations will be a smart card program in Tokyo's Shibuya district with an initial 100,000 cards and the ability to use chip cards at both conventional retailers and in electronic shopping systems.
The Taiwanese development was a demonstration of the multiple application capability that industry leaders say will be essential to realizing a return on the considerable investments required to take card technology to a new level.
China Trust Commercial Bank of Taipei, the Hang Ten Enterprises Ltd. clothing store, Hypercom Corp., and Gemplus Group put the loyalty system together.
The Hang Ten system includes rebates and automatic redemptions based on purchase amounts and frequency. China Trust general manager Kenneth Lo said the bank and Hang Ten plan to extend the program to stores in Hong Kong, Singapore, and the Philippines.
"Many Visa members have begun loyalty programs that take advantage of chip card technology to add flexibility, instant redemption, customization, and more comprehensive data-tracking to traditional cobranding and rewards programs," said Bob Hepple, director of chip card development for Visa's Asia-Pacific region, based in Singapore.
"We have created specifications to assist them in these endeavors and help create a global platform to enable interoperability between chip loyalty programs in different markets," Mr. Hepple said.
A Toshiba Corp. executive in Japan made the initial SET purchase, of a bottle of sake, from Click & Shop, the Internet mall that is part of the Visa-Toshiba Smart Commerce Japan project.
The participation of multiple software providers-including International Business Machines Corp., Netscape Communications Corp., and Cybercash Inc.-was said to indicate an advance in interoperability.
"We have taken chip-based payment systems and Secure Electronic Transactions to the next logical level, merging the specifications of the two technologies into an all-encompassing product using Visa's Chip Electronic Commerce Standard," said Hitoshi Kondo, a Visa Asia-Pacific vice president.
Visa submitted that standard, "marrying" chip cards with Internet commerce, to the Europay-MasterCard-Visa standards working group in June.
Smart Commerce Japan will be among the first projects operating on the SET 1.0 standard, published in June. A phased launching is to begin with a small number of Visa, Toshiba, and Hankyu Corp. employees doing Internet purchases. By yearend, Visa Cash cards will be used for micropayments in a way similar to a U.S. test recently announced by Visa and Bank of America.
