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Scrap the coins

04.05.2006
With over 9.2 million daily transactions in Hong Kong, the contactless stored-value Octopus card needs no introduction. Sammy Kam, technical director of Octopus Cards Ltd., talks to CWHK's Stefan Hammond about transaction times, making coins obsolete, and his firm's next-generation card-readers.

CWHK: Do you consider the Octopus card an RFID device?

Sammy Kam: RFID and contactless smart cards share the same basic technology--you have a small chip with an antenna that serves two purposes: one is to communicate with the reader using radio frequency, and the other is to create just enough power to power the chip for processing. RFID is basically for identification: the reader will check the ID of the chip and send that info to a backend system for processing. But contactless smart cards have more functions: you can write information into the chip, and you have built-in security functions.

CWHK: The Octopus was introduced in 1997, and you went with Sony card-reader technology. Was there any other technology you considered?

Kam: There was Philips, and Sony Felica [at that time]. We did a detailed comparison using multiple criteria and went with Sony--it's still one of the best in the industry.

CWHK:: Why should Hong Kong businesses adopt the Octopus as a payment option?