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Near Field Communication and all contactless technology

NFC TIMES Exclusive – While Apple Pay next month will mark the 5^th anniversary since its launch in the U.S., there is another contactless-mobile payments service that is three times as old as Apple Pay–Japan’s Osaifu-Keitai, or wallet phones, which this year turned 15. 

NFC TIMES Exclusive – HANOI, Vietnam: Since Apple Pay launched in Japan in the fall of 2016, the number of users for the Mobile Suica transit and retail payments application has grown by 50%, although the vast majority of transactions for Suica are still conducted with cards.

NFC Times Exclusive – As Apple moves closer to launching Apple Pay in Japan, the FeliCa-based service is opening up business opportunities for third-party technology suppliers, unlike most other countries where Apple Pay has launched.

NFC Times Exclusive Insight – Apple Wednesday confirmed that its new iPhone 7 smartphones and second-generation Apple Watch will support Sony’s proprietary FeliCa technology in Japan, as earlier reported, enabling transit and retail payments when Apple Pay launches in Japan next month. The tech giant will also expand Apple Pay into New Zealand and Russia this year, though was able to announce only one issuer so far between the two countries.

Japan-based video game company Nintendo will begin accepting contactless payments via its Wii U game consoles in Japan later this year, and the company will also release a new line of NFC-enabled toy figures for the console.

NTT DoCoMo launched its Osaifu-Keitai, or contactless wallet phones, in July 2004, mainly as a platform for its ambitious plans to establish a new payment brand in Japan via its phones.