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============================================================= Japanese Phones to Work As Smart Cards Mon Dec 15, 6:20 AM ET By YURI KAGEYAMA, AP Business Writer TOKYO - Cell phones in Japan will work as concert tickets,
identification cards and electronic wallets in a new service by the nation's top
mobile carrier, NTT DoCoMo, that uses smart card technology developed by Sony
Corp. The service starts on a trial basis Wednesday, and is the first result
of NTT DoCoMo's partnership with Japanese electronics giant Sony that was
announced in October, the mobile phone giant said. With a technology-savvy public eager for innovations, Japan leads the
world in new cell phone features such as digital cameras and Internet links.
People in some European countries and Taiwan can also use their mobile phones
to access the Internet. In South Korea, cell phones use infrared and radio
waves to make electronic payments. Developed by Sony, the technology dubbed FeliCa uses a computer chip
embedded in a card that permits payments for purchases or train tickets. Users
just need to hold the cards near special machines which communicate with the
chips. Some 19 million FeliCa cards are now being used in Japan for train
passes or electronic payments, according to Sony. The new service, which uses
that technology in cell phones, was demonstrated by the various providers to
the media on Monday. In one service, users download a concert or movie ticket from an
Internet site, paying with a credit card. The user then brings the mobile phone
to the theater for quick prepaid entry. Tokyo computer-game maker Sega Corp. will also participate in the new
service by allowing people to pay in advance for arcade games by putting cash into
a special machine that relays that information into a FeliCa-equipped
cell phone, Sega officials said. Japanese airline All Nippon Airways said it will offer an advance
check-in service by mobile phone. The user brings the FeliCa cell phone to the
airport counter, after registering by mobile Internet. Information such as
names and seat numbers shows up on an airport monitor, though passports and plane
tickets are still needed. The demonstrations showed that the FeliCa cell phone can be handy for
other uses such as employee identification and shopping discount points. During the trial service, which continues until the summer of next
year, NTT DoCoMo will supply 27 service providers with two handset models. A
commercial service is being planned for sometime next year, but details are still undecided. Sony's FeliCa smart card technology, developed in 1988, is widely used
in Japanese train systems and is also used in Hong Kong. NTT DoCoMo has
said it hopes to offer the FeliCa service overseas. Source: AP/Yahoo URL: <http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=528&ncid=528&e=9&u=/ap/200312 15/ap_on_hi_te/japan_mobile_phones> |
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