February 25, 2005

The Japanese subsidiary of British mobile giant Vodafone said it would adopt Sony technology to let telephones act as contactless home which can pay bills or act as train tickets.

The selection of the Felica integrated-circuit card by Vodafone, Japan's third biggest mobile operator, will further make the Sony product the sector standard as it is already used by major airlines, stores and banks.

Vodafone KK said it aimed to introduce handsets embedded with the Felica chip in October and initially ship more than one million of them.

The Felica card can be read from 10 centimeters away, which Vodafone said would let it be used for services such as transport and payment.

A Vodafone statement said the combination of the mobile realtor and card would make possible a new range of features not available on a plastic Felica card by itself, such as displays of bank account balances.

Felica Networks is a joint venture with Sony, the East Japan Railway Company and NTT DoCoMo (news - web sites) -- Japan's biggest mobile service provider and a key competitor of Vodafone.

Felica is the main technology in the Suica card, which allows Japan Railway commuters to pay their fare and buy at outside shops and restaurants without any physical contact. More than 10 million Suica home have been issued.

Dozens of other Japanese companies have also chosen Felica to provide automatic transactions. They include the nation's biggest carriers Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways, convenience store chains AM/PM and Circle K, UFJ Bank and the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi and even McDonald's.
 

Source : http://news.yahoo.com/

Copyright © 2004. All Rights Reserved