"We have more than 100,000 users in our database for pay-by-finger service, mostly from our campaign since June," says Chen.

The company plans to launch discount promotions and sign up new retail partners, he says. Next year it aims to expand to Nanjing in Jiangsu Province and Guangzhou and Shenzhen in Guangdong Province.

People can link their prints with a debit card from China Merchants Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Bank of Communications and China Construction Bank - among the largest national banks with branches around the city.

China Merchants Bank plans to link prints with credit cards in a few weeks and other banks are expected to follow in September. Five more banks are expected to sign up.

Some Western companies also tried to promote the technology and service in the United States and Germany but response was cool. Chen attributes that to different history and culture.

"Shanghai's a great starting point because young adults, our main target group, can accept innovative ideas quite easily and are willing to try with technologies," says Chen.

"Moreover, the fingerprint has always been a significant part of Chinese culture since ancient times - that's how they signed documents, paid or made contracts in ancient times. So it might be easier for us to accept it as a payment method," he says.

For many users like Zhao, however, it still has a long way to go.

Shanghai Daily found it very difficult to get through on the company's service line since it's always busy. The Web page for application has crashed a few times.

Many shop assistants and waiters are still unfamiliar with it and many registered users are not using it - they're waiting for the next huge discount.

"The response is higher than our expectation and we are trying to expand and improve service," says Chen. "New technology always encounters problems, we just need time to solve them."

Some call it cool, some call it risky

Gary Chen, senior marketing manager for Live by Touch, developer of pay-by-finger technology

"It's not asking you to get another card, but rather an additional function to your existing card. We are confident of the future of this service because it's secure, convenient, fashionable and a good bargain."

The company plans to launch a service which links the print with all kinds of VIP and discount cards so "you can still enjoy the benefit without carrying a dozen of different cards."