By Mobile Business Briefing

South Korean operator KT is launching the country’s first commercial NFC m-commerce handset and services, offering Samsung’s A-170K handset. The phone will support KT’s ‘Show Touch’ payment service, which will allow users to download credit card, membership card, and coupons to the mobile device, and use them with a number of participating retailers , with companies like GS Caltex, Lotte, Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin Robbins announcing their support.

The phone is a follow-up to the last NFC phone, the Tocco Lite (also know as the Star, or Player One), a mid range touch screen phone with a 3-inch WQVGA display, 3-megapixel camera, Bluetooth 2.1, GPS and of T-DMB mobile TV receiver. The last feature probably denoted by the ‘K’ at the end of the name. It’s not Windows, Android, Symbian or Bada.

The operator is targeting “businessmen and women in their 30s and 40s, and college students who frequently use public transportation, discount retail shops, and franchise shops.” The service costs KRW2,000 (US$1.78) per month to use, with US$2 of coupons provided.

The launch will put KT toward the front of the NFC industry, which is generally characterised by pilot deployments and limited commercial services. There has been something of a growth in momentum in recent months, however, with China Unicom announcing a major NFC research effort; AT&T, T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless reportedly piloting services in the US; and KT’s domestic rival SK Telecom working with SoftBank Mobile and KDDI to offer interoperable services across South Korea and Japan. One of the limiting factors for NFC is a paucity of attractive handsets supporting the technology – KT notes that it will “offer various additional services utilising unique NFC capabilities depending on penetration of handsets in the future.” In particular, the operator wants to offer NFC-based Android smartphones. Currently, only a handful of devices have been available, including terminals from Nokia, Samsung and Sagem.