The Japanese electronics giants agree to form joint venture company for contactless payments based on smart card technology.
NTT DoCoMo and Sony today announced that the company have agreed to form a joint venture to develop new services based on mobile phones equipped with Sony's contactless IC Card technology, FeliCa. The Joint Venture is targeted for establishment in January 2004, and the two companies said discussions between Sony and DoCoMo will continue to finalize the details of the company, which is to be named FeliCa Networks.
Sony began developing FeliCa in 1988, and business use of the technology became widespread following the deployment of the technology in Hong Kong transport systems in 1997. FeliCa is now used in JR East's Suica system, as well as in a number of transport systems around the world. Other applications include the "Edy" electronic money service, the "eLIO" online credit service and various company/organizational ID security systems. At present, 38 million cards using FeliCa chips have been issued worldwide according to Sony.
The Joint Venture will develop the technology for a new IC chip, tentatively named "mobile FeliCa IC", that will integrate mobile phones with the FeliCa technology. The Joint Venture will then implement production and sales licensing agreements with chip manufacturers, and work to create a platform whereby content providers can offer mobile services that feature both flexibility and security.
According to Sony and NTT DoCoMo, the mobile FeliCa IC and service platform will be developed in an open environment with the aim of providing it to the widest possible range of mobile telecommunications operators and content providers.
Through this platform, customers will be able to use their mobile phones for services previously only available with IC cards, such as transport system payments, electronic money and personal ID security. In addition, use of the telecom infrastructure for mobile phones will also enable new capabilities, such as the direct downloading of value (prepaid money) and additional content-based data. Potential applications of the technology could include electronic ticketing and online credit.
DoCoMo plans to launch a test service for mobile phones equipped with the mobile FeliCa IC chip in December of this year. FOMA and mova FeliCa equipped phones are scheduled to go on sale in Japan by the end of Fiscal Year 2004.
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