Like Tree33Likes

Octopus joins HK taxi e-payment market with launch of new app

Closed Thread
Page 4 of 4 FirstFirst 1 2 3 4
  1. #31

    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    Hong Kong
    Posts
    923
    Quote Originally Posted by freeier:
    actually, my question is, shld octopus be trying to compete with the alipay and the wechatpay ?

    octopus is used mainly in hk, and its linked to the transport system.
    we know hk cashless payment market is probably the hardest to make money. its likely saturated, and there are like 8-10 payment scheme competing. anytime one of the company comes up with cash incentive for people to use their payment system, people moved.. and once the incentive scheme ends, people move on to the next best incentivized scheme..

    octopus is not like alipay where they need to establish their platform and the eco system. it will likely always have a role to play in hk due to the transport system and their long headstart.. so as long as they keep up with the technology in terms of backend processing and the ease for uses to top up etc.. it should have its role here..

    so should it be spending big bucks like the alipay to develop new gimmicks and hope to get out of hk ? i hope not...
    Doubtful unless Octopus has the ability to do a complete pivot of their underlying business model. Alipay and Wepay are ultimately data platforms and payments are just a feature.

    If the merchant reports that Octopus supplies are any indication of their data model and platform capabilities they are laughably out of their league if they want to compete long term.

  2. #32

    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    猴山
    Posts
    23,652
    Original Post Deleted
    I remember chatting to Eric Tai and he said they were putting a lot of effort into online payment in the early 2000's but he suggested a principle own of Octupus felt it should not compete with banks.

  3. #33

    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Location
    Ex Sai Kunger Sunny Qld for now
    Posts
    8,318
    Quote Originally Posted by Gatts:
    Not a problem in other major cities like Tokyo where you can swipe your Suica/Passmo in any taxi.
    Or just using pay wave in cabs like I do here. Haven't used cash for ages. Plus it comes im handy for proof of purchase warranty claims as the retailer keepe an electronic record of your purchase, no need for you to bring a receipt.

    In the UK i used pay wave on the tube, tapped in and out using my credit card, when I left my oyster card in the hotel. Pay wave is excellent.

    HK really needs to get with the program, it'e just annoying.

  4. #34

    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Location
    Hong Kong
    Posts
    12,323
    Quote Originally Posted by bdw:
    If I understand this new Octopus Taxi payment feature correctly, you CANNOT pay for a taxi by beeping a traditional Octopus card. It's a new app for the taxi driver called "Octopus for business" where the customer can use their phone with O!epay to scan a QR code on the taxi drivers phone or something like this. So it doesn't work with 'normal' Octopus and its useless for old people and people without smart phone's etc.

    You make a valid point that maybe there should be a traditional Octopus payment function for these types of people, but anyway there is not so my point is also valid which is that Didi is going to beat all these other options that keep springing up and printed on the side of Taxi's every week. There were taxi's with green wechat logo's on them, blue Alipay logo's etc. They are all shit and wasting their time. Didi will beat all of these once the dust settles and they should hurry up and release a fucking english version of their app. They already have an english version in Guangzhou and other Chinese cities but not HK which is pretty bloody stupid.
    Thanks for the explanation. I had assumed the taxi drivers phone had NFC and you just used a normal octopus with it. If that's not the case, not helpful. My own phone doesn't have NFC so I don't know if it would work for me - I cannot seem to use any of the other electronic payment mechanisms because of that.

  5. #35

    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Location
    Cramped island
    Posts
    5,585

    got this in SCMP:

    "Passengers with an Octopus app on an Android smartphone can already use their handset to scan the QR code taxi drivers provide and make a payment. But those using Apple’s iPhone cannot because the device does not support phone-based transaction technology known as near-field communication.

    However, from April these passengers will be able to tap their Octopus cards on a taxi driver’s phone, which will serve as a card reader through the tailor-made app. Passengers will also have an option to pay extra as a tip."

    So it says otherwise.
    What it means is actually we can now use our mobile phone to install a octopus reader and collect payment from another person's octopus card.. interesting..

    technically if you can replicate that device in your mobile phone, then u can just walk around with the app on and hopefully pull some spare changes from octopus cards in the vicinity




    and in the same article:

    “Octopus has an edge. It is so widely used in Hong Kong,” Ng said. “But whether drivers or passengers will choose to use Octopus or others depends on what incentives it offers.”


    which is what i have pointed out a page ago. in HK and Singapore for that matter, the battle for cashless payment is really tied to how much money the backer is willing to put in to incentivise users.. once the incentive is out, the user will just switch to the next guy that is offering something good.
    i.e. there is no stickiness (come prove me wrong, tell me that you have stick to using a payment method after the initial offer and refused to changed to the next one offering new incentives) to any method.

    and hk market itself is too small for these guys to really make money.

    HK_Katherine and timonoj like this.

Closed Thread
Page 4 of 4 FirstFirst 1 2 3 4