With a flick of the wrist

Find out how this Hong Kong tech company is trying to make whipping out your wallet a thing of the past

Illustration: Jacob Stead

Chances are that you already make some payments with a tap of your phone. But if Tappy Technologies has its way, you could be scanning your traditional watch instead. In March, the Hong Kong-based tech company debuted its portable card provisioning solution – the Universal Passive Provisioning Unit – at the Money20/20 Asia convention in Singapore.

This unit allows the user to input their credit card information into their Tappy-enabled traditional timepiece to make hassle-free payments in seconds. After downloading the Tappy app and saving your credit card details, you pair it with your watch via a Bluetooth clip. And just like that, your watch is enabled to make payments.

ooo opener

To prevent fraudulent purchases, the watch straps come with a biometric sensor – you have to tap your finger on it before making payments.

With this, Tappy hopes to merge the US$20 billion watch industry with its technology and take wearable payments mainstream, appealing to the crowd that prefers the look and prestige factor of a traditional timepiece over smartwatches.

A by-the-numbers look at the smart wearables market

22 billion US dollars

How much the market will be worth by 2022

87 million

Number of “hearables” (smart connected headphones and earphones) that are expected to be sold by 2022

85 million

Number of smartwatches expected to be sold in 2019

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