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more news from those wacky funsters at DoCoMo.....
from
Reuters
Japan's DoCoMo Trials Ultra-Handy Smart-Chip Phone
Tue December 16, 2003 03:28 AM ET
By Yukari Iwatani Kane
TOKYO (Reuters) - Imagine a future where a cell phone serves as a key to open doors, an identification card and an electronic wallet to buy everything from plane tickets to a compact disc or a can of soda.
NTT DoCoMo Inc., Japan's largest mobile phone operator, takes a tentative step toward that future this month with the trial launch of a phone equipped with Sony Corp.'s FeliCa smart chip, which can store electronic money and personal information.
The phone is ultimately intended to replace the mess of cash, credit cards, identification cards and electronic plane or train tickets that people on the move have to carry around.
Tokyo commuters can already buy Suica train passes, which consist of a FeliCa chip embedded in a plastic card, but the chip has never before been used in a mobile phone.
DoCoMo said it will supply test phones to 27 service providers, including videogame maker Sega Corp. and All Nippon Airways Co. Ltd., for trial distribution to their customers.
One service being tested by financial services firm Kokunai Shinpan Co. Ltd. and real estate company Hayakawa Fudosan allows residents of a new apartment complex to use the FeliCa-equipped phones as keys to both the main entrance and their homes. The phone can also pay utility bills when swiped against a reader at the building's entrance.
The test phones are made by NEC Corp and Sony Ericsson.
Analysts say the new types of service have potential, but are skeptical about how quickly they will become widespread.
"Although mobile technology could allow all of those things that DoCoMo is talking about, actually getting everybody else who needs to be involved to make this work is going to be like herding cats," said Bruce Kirk, a telecoms analyst with KBC Securities.
"There are a number of applications that will eventually hit the market but it's going to be a lot slower than DoCoMo thinks," he said.
Credit card company JCB will be the first to start testing the new mobile phones, on December 17. Its employees will use the phones as company identification cards as well as to make purchases at vending machines and the company cafeteria
Sega said it plans to hand out the phones free of charge to customers chosen at random at one of its entertainment centers, where they can use them to pay for games starting in February.
Transportation companies are also testing the possibility of using the phones as electronic tickets, while a ticket retailer is considering selling e-tickets for movies and concerts via mobile phone.
"These types of new services are clearly convenient, but their widespread adoption will depend on how successfully their promoters can raise awareness," said Shinji Moriyuki, a telecommunications analyst with Daiwa Securities.
Daiwa estimates that consumers have bought nearly 7 million Suica cards at the end of July in the Tokyo area.
If DoCoMo can attract those consumers, as well as users of other debit-type transportation passes in Tokyo and elsewhere in Japan, the market potential in the transportation services area alone could be huge, Moriyuki said.
Trials of the new phones are expected to last through the summer. Service providers won't say when they plan to commercially launch their offerings, but DoCoMo plans to roll out phones with FeliCa smart chips mid-year.
DoCoMo and Sony announced their plan to set up a joint venture to develop the new phones in October.
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Posted: 2003-12-18 03:02:10
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