Newsletter No. 469/470

469/470 • 19.12.2015 11 電子支付系統面面觀 Paying Your Bills Electronically 內地和一些國家流行以手機和互聯網即時支付，在香港則並 不普及。從過去觀察所得，一套支付體系的成功與否，主要 視乎它的推行會令哪些人受惠—消費者、零售商、銀行， 還是電訊商、手機生產商、電子商貿平台營運商？誰的利益 愈大，他推動的誘因就愈大，接受程度也愈高。 站在消費者的角度，即時電子支付的最大優點是不需要攜帶 大量現金，尤其是沉重的輔幣。從零售商的角度，處理現金 的一切相關成本，如找零錢、儲存和保安等，都可免除。而電 子支付平台供應商卻覬覦整套系統的現金流。至於這塊餡餅 將由銀行、虛擬貨幣營運商，或是電貿平台，甚或移動通訊 營運商奪得，將取決於各地法規和市場的角力了。 中大在19 9 9至20 02年期間，曾經跟本地銀行合作，將 Mondex電子現金功能引入中大通校園卡，讓師生可以在 全港六千多家商店即時支付。時值香港輔幣短缺，加上 Mondex的一項獨有功能（兩名客戶可離線轉帳而無需銀行 核實），電子錢曾經一度風行。「八達通」後來從金融管理局 取得相關經營權，藉着其龐大的用户群，把服務擴展至交通 以外，扼殺了其他電子錢的發展空間，則是後話了。 在內地，龐大的網上購物平台，逐步發展成涵蓋物流以至金 融支付的企業集團。由於這些企業的購物平台幾乎包羅萬 有，從消費者角度，它所使用的虛擬貨幣也就跟實體貨幣的 功能很接近了。在香港，以八達通支付小額購物極為普及； 加上非常樂意為你墊付，甚至給你各種優惠的信用卡公司； 以及新近推出的電子支票，都分別着眼於財務收益，和免除 人手處理的成本和錯誤。但消費者得明白，提供這些系統和 基建的成本，最終都必會由消費者承擔。 「自拍」診症法 Selfie Diagnosis 「自拍」這「潮語」，據說最早出現於2002年澳洲的網上討 論區。在短短十多年間,手機自拍愈趨普遍，「自拍」更被牛 津英文字典選為2013年度風雲單字。然而現時的手機功能， 又豈止拍照和聽電話那麼簡單? 耶路撒冷希伯來大學的 Boris Rubinsky 教授率先研發透過 手機傳送醫學影像的技術。這項技術無疑會為缺乏先進醫 療影像儀器，也沒有足夠受過相關操作訓練人員的地區，在 醫護上帶來極大的便利和好處。 美國和澳洲的科學家也致力研發手機軟件，可根據咳嗽的聲 音和長短等，來分析致病原因是細菌感染，還是由過濾性病 毒引起。當你開始有感冒症狀，只需要對着手機咳嗽幾下， 就能即時獲得診斷結果，無須親自跑一趟診所。 沒有手機的年代，從畫像也可斷出不少症狀。著名荷蘭畫家 林布蘭 六十三歲時畫了一幅自畫像，從他臉頰的紅點與右眼 下方擴張的血管，有經驗的醫生會看出他患了玫瑰痤瘡，其 他患有此病的著名人物包括 克林頓 和 費格遜 爵士。 另一個例子，收藏於倫敦國家美術館第五號展廳。 昆丁·馬 西斯 的〈老女人〉（或稱為「醜陋女公爵」）一直被視為是在 嘲諷老貴婦對逝去青春的病態依戀。但英國著名癌症專家 兼藝術評論家 Michael Baum 教授卻認為畫中老婦的奇特面 相，證明她患上罕見的骨科病─柏哲德氏症。 若那位女公爵活在今天，「自拍」後看看照片，應該第一時間 去找專科醫生問個究竟。 is a pioneer in developing cell phone gadgets to transmit medical images for diagnosis and treatment. This gives tremendous health benefits to people in off-the-track places where sophisticated scanning and imaging devices and the expertise of trained personnel are not readily available. Scientists in the US and in Australia have been developing softwares that could analyze the sounds of a cough, its duration, etc., to determine if it’s bacterial or viral infection. When you begin to have symptoms of the common flu, you can just cough into your cell phone, get a diagnosis and save a trip to your doctor’s. Health conditions are readily diagnosable in paintings, too. Rembrandt painted a self-portrait at the age of 63. The red spots on his cheeks and the dilated blood vessels under his right eye show that he was suffering from rosacea, a chronic reddening of the face. Other famous sufferers of rosacea include Bill Clinton and Sir Alex Ferguson . Prof. Michael Baum , UK cancer expert and art critic, saw no want of forensic possibilities in the National Gallery in London. Quinten Massys ’s ‘An Old Woman’ (more famously known as ‘The Ugly Duchess’) hangs in Room 5. It had long been thought to be a mockery of an old aristocrat clinging helplessly and ridiculously onto bygone youth. But the painting is in fact a truthful rendering of a woman suffering from a rare bone disorder called the Paget’s disease. Should the Duchess live today, she should be heading straight to the specialist’s office after seeing her selfie photo. 字裏高科 Tech Talks 寶健保健 Wealth In Health Selfie is reputed to have first appeared in an Australian online forum in 2002. By 2013, the act of taking self- portraits with one’s cell phone had become so ubiquitous that the word referring to it was named the Word of the Year by the Oxford English Dictionary. However, our cell phone does more than receiving calls and taking pictures. Prof. Boris Rubinsky of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Consumers in mainland China and some other countries could pay by mobile phone and via the Internet. These practices are not popular in Hong Kong, thus attracting criticism that our payment systems are outdated. Perhaps it would only be fair to first examine the incentives for using electronic money. So, whom will electronic payment benefit—consumer, merchant, bank, network operator, mobile phone manufacturer, or online shop operator? Needless to say, whoever benefits more will be a more ardent advocate as well as user. The consumers seem to be the beneficiaries in that they don’t need to carry any cash with them. But let’s not forget the merchants who now can eliminate a lot of costs in handling cash: safekeeping, handling small changes, depositing, etc. And the online shop operators have eyes on the huge cash flow generated by consumers depositing their monies into electronic cash. How this big piece of meat would end up on the platter of the bank, electronic cash operator, telecom operator or e-shopping operator really depends on the local regulations and the market. Between 1999–2002, our University worked with a local bank to incorporate Mondex, an approved electronic cash scheme, into our CU Link Card. It facilitated our students and staff to pay at 6,000 shops in Hong Kong. The shortage of coins at the time and the unique feature of offline transactions between two cardholders made Mondex popular. But that didn’t last long, and breathed its last breath when the Octopus card was authorized to extend its scope of service from transportation-only to other small retail transactions. In mainland China, we witnessed the spectacular growth and expansion of online shopping platforms into cyber conglomerates covering logistics and financial services. From the perspective of consumers, the cyber money thus created for shopping is no different from real money since these platforms are selling nearly all kinds of products and services. In Hong Kong, we have the extremely popular Octopus for all small payments, numerous credit card operators standing by to give you credit in spending, and the recently launched e-cheque to pay through Internet. These mechanisms are either interested in the cash flow or in cutting operation costs. But no matter what, the consumer would need to foot the bill at the end. 梁光漢 Philip Leung