A university student “K” frequently uses online bookshops that give her discount benefits. However, she cannot easily decide about a book purchase because she cannot take a look at the content in the book she wants to buy in the online bookshops. So, “K” visits offline bookshops to read the content and determine the book she wants to buy.  She then orders the book via online. Now she doesn’t have this kind of inconvenience. The mobile RFID-based “Touch Book” service lets her intelligently choose the book she wants to buy, and order it through her mobile phone.

Seoul, Korea, 10 May 2007 - SK Telecom (CEO Shin Bae Kim, www.sktelecom.com) announced the launching of an upgraded RFID-based “Touch Book” service that allows the searching for information about books, as well as the purchasing of books via a mobile phone. Customers are able to purchase or search for information about books anytime and anywhere, by inputting into their mobile phone the International Standard Book Number (ISBN) granted to each book.

In January of 2007, SK Telecom introduced an RFID-based “Touch Book” service of three Kyobo Book Centres based in Seoul (Kwanghwamun, Kangnam and Jamsil). This service offers customers such beneficial information about books as summarized content, readers’ comments and book quality grades, by touching tags attached to each book with their mobile phone with built-in RFID. The upgraded “Touch Book” service has added a book purchasing function that is designed to order books at a discounted price in offline bookstores, after searching for the information about the books on their mobile phone. In addition, the customers can make payments, and designate a book delivery place   through the RFID function. In the case of purchasing books through the “Touch Book” service, customers can get the same discount ratio and membership mileage benefits as those given by Kyobo Book Centre’s online bookstore.

The payments for books can be made through a credit card, or by adding them to the  mobile phone service rates. Book delivery expenses are free of charge when purchasing books worth more than KRW20,000. In the case of purchasing books worth less than KRW20,000, KRW2,000 will be charged for a delivery. The service also provides customers with book purchasing and information services by inputting the ISBN assigned to each book. The ISBN is a unique number allocated to each book in accord with an international standard. By inputting this number to a mobile phone, customers can search information about books and purchase them anytime and anywhere through the wireless Internet. The ISBN is connected with the Kyobo Book Centre’s database.

To use the upgraded “Touch Book” service, customers must install an RFID reading device in the mobile phone, and touch a RFID Tag attached to each book in the bookstore. The reading device will be lent free of charge by the bookstore. To purchase books through the ISBN, customers should access the wireless Internet by pressing ＊＊8574 (Purchasing Books) + NATE (or Call Button), and download Virtual Machine (VM). In the case of downloading the VM or using the “Touch Book” service, the information use fee is free of charge, but KRW4.55 of data call fees will be charged for each packet (512 byte). The subscribers to a wireless Internet flat rate plan are allowed to use both services without paying a service use fee.

“The upgraded “Touch Book” service is a representative convergent service of RFID and Commerce. It greatly facilitates customer convenience in purchasing books. We will continue to develop new mobile RFID-based purchasing and payment services.” said Ju Sik Lee, senior vice-president and head of SK Telecom’s New Business Development Group 1.