China Unicom's mobile payment service

China Unicom is about to launch its China Unicom Mobile Card service. With it you can pay your way for public transport across the country.
The launch includes a series of pay-for-use mobile phones and chargeable SIM cards. The charge will be identical to the normal transportation price.
A forerunner of this service is the Hong Kong Octopus card.
You can avail of the service by using a China Unicom customized payable phone or SIM card. You can use the service for both small payments like transportation, and large payments like shopping. It is password protected.
Shanzai.com reports that the China Unicom service may be used for other kinds of payments in the future. At the moment, participating outlets are limited but China Unicom is working on broadening the service for other mobile phones.