Joined: 15 Jun 2004 Posts: 46182 Location: Los Skandolous, California Country:
Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 10:19 pm Post subject:
RFID in Japan: Japan�fs experience with RFID phones and contactless cash
April 30th, 2008
Over the last few years, residents of busy metropolises like London and Hong Kong have grown used to the convenience – not to mention lower prices in London�fs case – of transport networks that accept electronic payments.
Handy pieces of plastic, like the Oyster Card, with chips onboard are clearly a part of life for many people, but the same RFID technology has a far greater reach in Japan, where it has taken the next step and migrated to mobile phones as well.
Extra visibility
The change began in summer 2004, when NTT DoCoMo launched the first phone with a Sony FeliCa IC chip and branded the service Osaifu Keitai, or �eWallet Mobile�f in Japanese.
Early applications were focused mainly on replicating the SuiCa transport card based on the same chip in a phone. The main advantages of doing so, of course, are the facts that a phone can go online to suck more cash from a credit card or bank account and that it has a screen for viewing the pre-paid balance.
Those first applications were soon joined by numerous others, ranging from a confusing host of different brands of e-cash for shopping in specific stores to discount coupons, cinema reservation systems and even an RFID credit card that is directly linked to the monthly phone bill.
At the last count, there were over 40 such services available through phones with RFID. Although that may sound like a bewildering array, a quick stroll in any Japanese street will reveal that the SuiCa brand itself – also accepted as e-cash now – is by far the most common; a result of blanket marketing when the original card was introduced in 2001.
The ins and outs
That�fs a brief overview of what RFID phones can do, but how exactly do users get to grips with what seems like a pretty complex technology?
All Osaifu Keitai applications require the user to first connect to a mobile internet site and then download a Java application, known as an i-appli, which provides the interface and a secure data channel to the servers of the company he or she wants to do business with.
For example, recharging the pre-paid balance on the in-phone SuiCa card requires just a few clicks to enter a password and choose the amount; marginally easier than taking a card and a bundle of cash to a vending machine.
However, a more demanding task like booking a long-distance train journey adds layers that include perusing a timetable, choosing seats and even paying a supplement for the famous Shinkansen bullet train. It�fs easy to see how just popping into a station to get the ticket might be easier.
One in four
Consequently, the myriad RFID functions of most new Japanese phones are still overlooked by the vast majority of subscribers to the three major networks. We asked market leader NTT DoCoMo for its take on the situation.
Spokesman Shuichi Ichikoshi told us: �g[Only] one in four customers who own an Osaifu Keitai use the function continuously. It�fs not surprising that the ratio is so low�c but we�fre not satisfied with the current situation and are going to implement various measures to increase usage, and increase the number of retailers that can use Osaifu Keitai [as e-cash].�h
In other words, the commercial drive that has at least got a few million people using the function has really only just begun – there are 102 million phone users in Japan to aim for.
Cash still king
Daniel Bukenya from the Mobile Consumer Lab in Niigata, Japan, explained one reason why around 80 per cent ignore the IC chip in their phones: �gOne other impediment is that Japan is still a heavily cash driven economy. The fact that customers will need cash for certain transactions and not need it for other transactions has prevented them from fully embracing the mobile contactless payments.�h
Conversely, his more optimistic colleague, Mobile Consumer Lab director Philip Sugai, sees the glass as half full: �gIf this number is accurate, I feel that it is extremely high. That this many consumers are actually trying Osaifu Keitai applications is a very good sign for the future of this technology and the applications that support it.�h
Speaking of the future, the other areas ripe for RFID phones to grow into, such as home security and anywhere that requires identity verification, present problems we haven�ft even begun to grapple with.
Sugai again: �gHaving features such as entry keys for your home, quick payment options for small purchases, credit card and banking information all available through the mobile phone, there may be significant concerns by consumers to have all of this information and capability centralised in one place.
�gAll we need to read about is one major crime or theft of banking or credit card information, or a rash of house break-ins due to flaws in the RFID technology and consumer sentiment may quickly change.�h
What�fs in it for the West?
That�fs a scenario – in a more low-tech way – that anyone living in Britain throughout the last few years will be familiar with, suggesting prudence may hold back any such advanced RFID deployments in the near future, but what is likely to be next for the West?
In a nutshell, it all comes back to the simpler functions of RFID cards, phones and whatever other devices end up housing the chips. Europeans are likely to be using phones and cards as e-cash long before the high-end features arrive.
We�fve already seen Barclaycard�fs OnePulse trial in London and Nokia�fs e-cash-toting 6212 phone and feel sure that they represent the thin end of an electronic payments wedge that will transform shopping for small-ticket items.
For that to happen, however, retailers need to start installing the terminals needed to process RFID purchases. DoCoMo�fs Ichikoshi explains why that�fs inevitable:
�gStores, such as convenience store chains, in Japan benefit from being able to process their customers much faster due to the cashless procedure, which may promote more customers to visit. They also benefit in terms of marketing and can get useful customer information.�h
Naturally, the phone companies benefit too, with commission on each RFID credit-card transaction (in DoCoMo�fs case) being just for starters.
Other plus points for the networks of building advanced RFID functions into their phones include a �ekeeping up with the Joneses�f effect and stronger subscriber loyalty. After all, no one wants to transfer half a dozen e-cash services as well as a phone number to a new network.
Changes afoot
Philip Sugai points out that the implications for a successful RFID platform are vast: �gI think this is why DoCoMo and other operators have invested in banks and credit card companies so that they can participate in the transaction fees paid by retailers for using these networks.
�gAs ARPU (average revenue per user) is trending downward, this is clearly an important new revenue stream for operators in Japan today and for the future,�h he concludes.
So, will our phone companies transform into many-tentacled financial institutions? Almost certainly, but not in the near future for anyone living in the West, we�fd suggest.
Far more likely is a growing acceptance that the phone in your pocket really will become that mobile wallet it already is for a quarter of Japan�fs hipsters. When
Joined: 07 Oct 2005 Posts: 9573 Location: �o�J�i�_ Country:
Posted: Fri May 02, 2008 1:08 am Post subject:
Tu_triky wrote:
RFID in Japan: Japan�fs experience with RFID phones and contactless cash
April 30th, 2008
Cash still king
�gOne other impediment is that Japan is still a heavily cash driven economy. The fact that customers will need cash for certain transactions and not need it for other transactions has prevented them from fully embracing the mobile contactless payments.�h
I bet. It's hard to launder money from the music industry with electronic transactions.
I'd love to have something like that for simple transaction. With ATM cards is hella slow, not to mention someone can clone your card and empty your bank account. So yeah, cash is king. _________________
Joined: 15 Jun 2004 Posts: 46182 Location: Los Skandolous, California Country:
Posted: Fri May 02, 2008 1:12 am Post subject:
tabana wrote:
I bet. It's hard to launder money from the music industry with electronic transactions.
I'd love to have something like that for simple transaction. With ATM cards is hella slow, not to mention someone can clone your card and empty your bank account. So yeah, cash is king.
I'm having a Suica card implanted in my head. So when I'm drunk and stumbling toward the gate at the subway station to catch the last train, before I trip and fall, my lowered head will open the gate.
Joined: 07 Oct 2005 Posts: 9573 Location: �o�J�i�_ Country:
Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 1:58 am Post subject:
Official suspended for surfing porn at work
TOKYO (Reuters) - A city bureaucrat in western Japan was suspended from his job after officials discovered he visited porn websites at work almost every day, often spending hours gazing at nude photos, a city official said.
The 57-year-old man, who was working in the construction division of Kinokawa City in Wakayama, surfed porn sites from an office computer almost every day for eight months from June 2007, spending up to three hours a day on the websites, said Kazuhiko Ueyama, a Kinokawa City official. Angered citizens called city hall all day on Friday, saying the suspension was not enough, he added.
The city only found out about his activities in February when it noticed that his computer had picked up the same virus repeatedly from the sites, Ueyama said. "These were foreign 'adult sites' and they got through the security net" that the city had installed for its computers, he said.
"The man apologized each time we spoke to him, but we couldn't quite get him to explain to us why he did this," Ueyama added. The bureaucrat was suspended from the office for three months and was demoted as of Thursday, Ueyama said.
(Reporting by Yoko Kubota; Editing by David Fox)
same news, but with more juicy details.
Japanese official demoted for 780,000 hits on porn sites
TOKYO - A Japanese civil servant was demoted for logging more than 780,000 hits on pornographic Web sites on his office computer over nine months, an official said Friday.
The man, a Kinokawa city government employee in western Japan, visited porn sites from June 2007 to February 2008, city official Tomiko Waki said. The man's name was withheld.
City officials said the number of hits discovered on his computer's internal log was so high in part because one click on certain types of pornographic sites registers multiple hits. Despite his frequent porn viewing, none of his colleagues noticed his activities, which he apparently conducted throughout the workday. "Each desk is set apart from each other," Waki said, adding thatthe man logged 170,000 hits on porn sites in July alone.
The man's supervisors discovered his extensive porn site visits after his computer became infected with a virus, prompting officials to examine his Web browser's history. Along with the demotion, he received a 20,000 yen ($190) monthly pay cut, Waki said. _________________
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