Mobile coupons are mainstream in Japan

Using mobile coupons to get a discount is a common thing in Japan and a recent user survey by Update/MMD just confirms that. Out of 4,453 survey respondents 71.6% said that they are subscribed to receive flyers with discounts from a particular business. Among those, 43.5% get coupons from 2-4 businesses. The most popular category of businesses distributing mobile coupons is the fast food chains followed with pubs/restaurants/cafes and CD/DVD rental shops. The top three popular shops among respondents turned out to be as follows:

1. McDonald's (78.3%)
2. TSUTAYA (Japan's Blockbuster) (44.5%)
3. KFC (29.3%)

Source: MMD via Keitai Watch

Mobile Suica reaches another milestone: 1.5 million users

Contactless train fare payment service Mobile Suica made another stride to reach 1.5 million subscribers. Offered in 2006 by Japan Railways in eastern Japan and commonly used by DoCoMo, au and Softbank users Mobile Suica service is spreading across country and adding retails POPs accepting Mobile Suica for payments. It will soon become compatible with the similar payment systems used in parts of Hokkaido, Kyushyu and Western Japan. It will also be possible to purchase small items in Lawson shops by using Mobile Suica-enabled phone starting from April.

Related Articles:

• Contactless payment Suica cards hit a 20 million milestone (04/19/07)
  
• Mobile Suica signs up 120,000 train commuters (11/10/06)
  
• Mobile Suica: 20,000 subscribers in one week (02/09/06)
  

Source: JR East

10 million of mobile wallet users at KDDI au

Contactless payment solutions continue to penetrate mobile phones in Japan at the accelerating rates. KDDI au registered 5 million mobile wallet users in March 2007, now they report 10 million users or 35% of their total subscriber base is actively using mobile phones to make all kind of purchases you do in your daily life. Thanks to the adoption of FeliCa, a flavor of Near Field Communications standard, by all major carriers the POS locations don’t have a headache of prepping different readers in order to process the mobile phone transactions. FeliCa rules in Japan. Expect the similar solutions to be deployed by AT&T, maybe even in 2008.

Source: KDDI au (Japanese)

Parents get notified every time a child passes the train ticket gates

With every day it becomes extremely difficult for kids in Japan to sneak out of school or other "planned activities" without being caught. On the other hand, parents are more relieved, knowing the whereabouts of their children.

But the reality begins to look like in that futuristic Running Man movie, in which the main hero played by Arnold Schwarzenegger was wearing an implanted collar that was about to explode every time Arnold tried to leave the boundary of the prison's laser-linked zone.

It might be exaggerated but judge for yourself. Tokyu Security has built an ecosystem that tracks the child's moves across public transportation, school and pre-school domains and reports to parents every time their child passes the installed checkpoints. The notifications are usually emailed to parents’ mobile phones reporting such information as the child’s name, time and station where the child got onboard or got off the train. The checkpoints at school inform the time of arrival.

Tokyu Security makes use of PASMO cards, the rechargeable IC cards, and special reader equipment to implement the system. Scheduled for launch in December, the service will be offered at all Tokyu line stations in greater Tokyo except Setagaya line and Shibuya station. A subscription fee of JPY525 (USD4.66) must be paid every six month to keep the service activated. The service will target elementary and middle school children.

Source: Tokyu Security press release (Japanese)

Contactless payment Suica cards hit a 20 million milestone

The railway company JR East has started issuing contactless rail pass cards dubbed Suica in November of 2001. This month Suica cards hit a 20 million milestone. This number doesn’t include mobile Suica memberships, which accounted for 430,000 phones with built-in FeliCa chips in March. JR East equipped its 2,127 train stations with Suica-compatible turnstiles. Nowadays, Suica cards (16,410,000) can also be used as electronic money to buy goods at about 22,150 shops in train stations in the Kanto area and around 7,000 online stores accept Suica cards as well.

Nearly 40% of DoCoMo user base use mobile wallet phones

DoCoMo rolled out the first phones with built-in mobile payment chips in July 2004, gradually boosting the user base to present 20 million – a 38% share of DoCoMo’s 52 million wireless subscribers. The various usage scenarios for Osaifu Keitai, a Japanese name for the mobile wallet, have emerged during this period, including train commute ticketing service Mobile Suica, e-money payment systems QUICPay and Edy, mobile credit card iD, coupon service Toruca, different kinds of identification and point cards. During the same period, the number of POS accepting Osaifu Keitai payments has increased to 200,000 locations. And it seems that DoCoMo intends to continue its aggressive foray into financial services by adding new capabilities to the service and signing up new partners.

Mobile Suica signs up 120,000 train commuters

According to Japan's train operator JR East, the subscriber base of Mobile Suica service reached 120,000 train commuters at the end of September. Launched in January 2006, Mobile Suica allows Tokyo commuters to board trains by waving their phones over a sensor in turnstiles. In addition to mobiles, JR East sells Suica contactless cards, which are also good for making small purchases at participating stores near train stations. The total number of issued Suica cards at the end of September was reported to be about 17.75 million, among which 13.84 million cards were enabled for making purchases. The popularity of Suica ticketing and e-money service is rapidly spreading across the region, recruiting more merchants and becoming compatible with other e-money services such as Edy and iD that are offered on cell phones as well. At the end of September, there were 9,000 participating points of sale that were accepting payments through Suica.
Related post: Mobile Suica: 20,000 subscribers in one week

DoCoMo muscles up its financial services

DoCoMo revealed that the number of applications to use its credit service DCMX mini hit 150 thousand in one month after the service's rollout in April 2006. DCMX mini is an entry-level credit service enabled on mobile phones with a limited credit line (see our glossary for details).

Starting May 26, 2006, DoCoMo also began offering feature-rich DCMX credit service that can be used on 3G phones with mobile wallet functionality.

At the same time, DoCoMo announced that the number of subscribers to Mitsui-Sumitomo Card iD service reached 400,000 after the service's rollout in December 2005. Mitsui-Sumitomo Card iD is a debit card incorporated into the mobile wallet handset.

Both DCMX and Mitsui-Sumitomo Card iD are offered under the iD brand, thus retailers with iD-branded scanners can accept them for payments. There were around 30 thousand retail locations equipped with iD-branded scanners in Japan by April 2006 and DoCoMo plans to increase that number up to 150 thousand by the end of 2006.

Mobile iD readers to be installed into 5,500 of Tokyo’s taxi cabs

Having launched iD credit payment service in December 2005, NTT DoCoMo is expanding the service to Tokyo’s taxi cabs. Together with partners from Mitsui-Sumitomo bank and Tokyo Wireless Cab Association (TWCA), DoCoMo will provide iD reader/writer devices to around 5,500 taxi cabs in Tokyo area, members of the TWCA.

iD is an enhancement to DoCoMo’s mobile-wallet cellphones, adding the ability to make credit card purchases. Before, DoCoMo’s mobile-wallet users had to deposit money into their mobile-wallet accounts in advance to conduct micro-payment transactions such as paying transit fare or buying a soft drink from a vending machine.

Tokyo is not the only place where taxi cab drivers accept payments made by cellphones. A cab company from Kanagawa prefecture uses QUICKPay, another mobile credit card service from JCB bank. Several cab companies across the country also accept pre-paid electronic money payments via mobile-wallet cellphones, utilizing Edy or Mobile Ii Card services.

Source: ITmedia (Japanese)

No need for keys when you have a FeliCa mobile phone

The concept of mobile wallet is live and working in Japan: you can do fine without cash, ID cards and keys as long as you carry around your FeliCa-enabled mobile phone. Here is an example of what can users do with the contactless key service developed by Kesaka System for apartment buildings:

• Open and lock doors by waving the handset
• Share the master key with others by sending email to another phone
• Edit and set the expiration date on the master key
• Get notified by email when the door is open (when your kid gets home for example)
• See which phone was used to open/lock the door
• Check the status of the door lock remotely
• Lock the door remotely if you forget to lock it in a first place
• Get notifications from landlord on your cellphone
• Control home appliances remotely from a cellphone (to turn on/off lights, air conditioner, camera, etc.)
• Get notification if you get any package delivered into your mailbox

Source: Kesaka System website

Mobile Suica: 20,000 subscribers in one week

Credit: k-tai.impress.co.jp

According to Japan's train operator JR East, 20,000 train commuters subscribed for Mobile Suica service just in one week after the service was first launched in January 28 (before Mobile Suica there were Suica contactless payment cards). Offered by NTT DoCoMo, Mobile Suica allows Tokyo commuters to board trains by waving their phones over a sensor in turnstiles. The ability to pay for the subway ride by cellphone is one of the examples of the mobile wallet concept.

The concept of the mobile wallet is clearly defined by DoCoMo, which relies on this service as a potential booster for its revenues. The service is intended to replace not only money, but other items that usually reside in a wallet such as tickets and identification cards as well.

Meanwhile, in the U.S. Motorola is planning to market it's "M-Wallet" service, which allows shoppers to purchase products by waving their cell phone with an embedded chip over scanners at cash registers.

FeliCa Networks to Simplify Net Info Access by Mobile Phone

FeliCa Networks, will simplify access to online information through mobile phones by using its proprietary FeliCa technology. In developing the service, the company has teamed up with Index, Gourmet Navigator, Sony, Hudson Soft, and Ekitan. Users will first install software on a personal computer and a FeliCa-installed mobile phone, then will attach a reader and writer for FeliCa-installed mobile phones to the personal computer. The participating companies, such as transportation guidance firm Ekitan, will have a special button on their sites for the service. When a user clicks on the button and passes his or her mobile phone in front of the reader, the desired site address will be transferred to the mobile phone in two seconds. When this is done, the phone will automatically connect to the site and display information on its screen. Because screens can be saved, a user can display the information from then on without accessing the Internet. (NE Asia Online)