IN LITTLE under two decades, the mobile phone has evolved from a voice-only handset with a brick-sized battery, into a text, email and web communicator, game station, camera, video conferencing tool and radio rolled into one 鈥� all in a package small enough to slip into your pocket or purse.
So what鈥檚 next? According to NTT DoCoMo, the biggest network in cellphone-crazy Japan, phones are going to replace the wad of ID and credit cards we have to carry around.
This month, DoCoMo introduced four cellphones with what it calls 鈥渕obile wallet鈥� (m-wallet) capability built in. Gone are the days of struggling to find a train ticket, office security pass or credit card.
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You will simply wave your phone over a reader to pass through the barriers at train stations or let yourself into your office. At the supermarket checkout, you will pay for shopping by flashing the phone over a reader that will charge your account through a chip in the phone. Alternatively, users will be able to download up to 楼50,000 ($460) from their bank into the phone, which will simply burn down as it is spent.
The technology behind the idea originated in a wireless smart card from Sony called FeliCa 鈥� an ungainly merger of the words 鈥渇elicity鈥� and 鈥渃ash鈥�. FeliCa cards are already widely used as commuter train tickets and electronic cash cards that are accepted in 9000 Japanese shops, and in other Asian countries.
These capabilities 鈥� and many more 鈥� have now been brought to the cellphone by FeliCa Networks, a joint venture between Sony and DoCoMo. The partnership hopes its Mobile FeliCa microchip, which can be embedded into a phone鈥檚 circuitry, will become a de facto worldwide standard. So as well as supplying the makers of DoCoMo handsets, FeliCa Networks is licensing the technology to chip makers, who will sell their chips on to other handset makers and phone networks globally.
In Japan, at least, Mobile FeliCa鈥檚 chances of catching on look good. KDDI 鈥� DoCoMo鈥檚 arch rival and Japan鈥檚 second-biggest cellphone network 鈥� is backing the technology and expects to launch its own FeliCa-powered phones next year. Takeshi Natsuno, managing director of DoCoMo鈥檚 multimedia services division, says this will speed uptake of its m-wallet. 鈥淚t greatly increases the number of shops that will introduce FeliCa reader/writers.鈥�
Initially, people will be able to use the new phone-based services at the 9000 stores already supporting FeliCa smart card services, plus 39 Japanese chain stores, All Nippon Airways and Japan Railways. 鈥淲ithin three years, we are expecting 100,000 shops to be supporting it,鈥� Natsuno told New 杏吧原创.
Like the radio-frequency identification (RFID) chips that some companies are beginning to use to track their goods, the Mobile FeliCa chip needs no battery. It takes its power from radio waves emitted by the reading device, which can induce current in an antenna on the chip from up to 10 centimetres away.
The entire process of detecting and authenticating the chip, then writing and reading data to and from it, can all be completed in just a tenth of a second. The Mobile FeliCa chip has enough memory to store information for up to 10 user services.
Loss or theft of any cellphone spells trouble, but when the phone can spend your money at a swipe it could be calamitous. So in addition to thwarting eavesdroppers by encrypting authentication between the phone and the reader, a number of other security measures are in place. Owners can lock a misplaced or stolen phone by calling it from a pre-registered number 鈥� their home landline, for example 鈥� and keying in a secret, pre-arranged sequence. One of DoCoMo鈥檚 new handsets, made by Fujitsu, also incorporates a fingerprint reader.
Natsuno hopes that once users have been hooked on FeliCa services they will be less likely to switch to another network because changing would involve the hassle of rekeying all their data. Currently, some half a million DoCoMo subscribers switch to another network.
Japanese networks have pioneered many cellphone innovations, including camera-phones and mobile web access. So will Mobile FeliCa do the same for m-wallets? According to FeliCa Networks, operators in Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and India will be among the first to consider introducing FeliCa phones, as FeliCa smart cards are already used in those countries.
Finnish handset maker Nokia says m-wallet technology is up against alternatives such as charging payments for goods to the subscriber鈥檚 phone bill. Vodafone KK, Japan鈥檚 third-biggest network, could help influence matters. If it introduces FeliCa-type services in Japan, and they percolate to its overseas affiliates, competitors in Europe and the US may be forced to follow suit with m-wallet services of their own.
