Swatch launched a new NFC-enabled payments watch for the Chinese market, due to be rolled out there in January next year (and coming to the U.S. and Switzerland after that).
The Swatch Bellamy represents the company’s entrance into the contactless payment space in China. “The first four watches combine exciting, colorful yet functional Swatch design with built-in NFC (Near Field Communication) technology, allowing people to use their watches to pay for purchases in shops and stores around the country,” Swatch said in a statement.
The watch doesn't have Internet connectivity or smartwatch functionality, nor a touch display, reported Venture Beat.
Consumers in China who decide to pick up one of Swatch’s payments watches will have to go into one of the Bank of Communications’ 2,785 branches across the country to activate it, Venture Beat said.
China’s mobile payment transactions grew 134 percent to about $3.6 trillion last year, according to data from China’s central bank cited by Bloomberg.
