Japan's three largest telecom carriers and the government will
shortly begin working on the creation of an electronic
authorisation system to allow users to make large-scale purchases
from Internet-ready mobile phones, according to a report in the
Wednesday morning edition of the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, a Japanese
daily newspaper.
NTT DoCoMo, DDI and Japan Telecom, which between them have a 100%
share of Japan's wireless market, plan to create a council to
develop the system, said the report. Membership of the council will
be open to other vendors and is expected to include companies such
as NEC, Nokia, NTT Data. and Hitachi, the newspaper said.
The system, tests of which could begin as early as the first
quarter of 2002, will be broadly similar to the credit card
authorization network and it is expected to employ similar
technology although modified for mobile handset use, according to
the report.
Japan's cell phone operators are already testing the online
commerce waters, and the ability to make payments with cellular
handsets will form a central part of the next major upgrade to NTT
DoCoMo's popular I-mode wireless Internet service, according to
sources at the operator. Earlier this year DoCoMo announced plans
to launch a pilot scheme with Coca Cola (Japan) and Itochu that
will enable users to buy soft drinks through the I-mode
system.
DoCoMo is also working with Sony on the development of its
electronic cash system, Edy, which they expect to launch
commercially sometime in 2001. Sony hopes 15 million Edy-compatible
payment devices and 30 million Edy cards will be in the hands of
Japanese shoppers by 2006.