Digital Trends
Newly announced services and handsets from Japan’s NTT DoCoMo make mobile payments possible in both prepaid and postpaid modes. According to Gartner, operators should concentrate on the merchant infrastructure to exploit the possibilities.
On 16 June 2004, Japan’s mobile phone operator, NTT DoCoMo, announced i-mode FeliCa, a service for new handsets to act as electronic wallets. The new handsets will be available in July 2004 with Sony’s contactless smartcard chips embedded in them.
The new company, FeliCa Networks Inc., will be established in January 2004 to launch the new services, which will combine Sony’s contactless IC card technology called FeliCa and NTT DoCoMo’s mobile multimedia expertise.
NTT DoCoMo will begin the new services on a trial basis in December using some 6,000 cell phones.
Announcing the agreement at a press conference, NTT DoCoMo President Keiji Tachikawa said the joint project will “diversify the use of mobile phones.”
Sony Chairman Nobuyuki Idei said the new services will “make life more convenient.”
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