The Change Mariner

Sony, DoCoMo Join on 'Smart Card' Phones

My Way News:

TOKYO (AP) - Sony Corp. and Japan's top mobile phone carrier, NTT DoCoMo, plan to cooperate in developing a system that will allow people to use their cell phones to pay for train tickets or buy items in stores.

They plan to create a FeliCa Networks joint venture, to be set up in Tokyo in January, that will develop a new chip that integrates mobile phones with smart card technology developed by Sony, the companies said Monday.
The smart cards, which have an integrated circuit chip embedded in them, can communicate with special equipment that allows card-owners to pass through train station gates or make payments at cash registers in stores.
Sony will be a 60 percent investor in the 6 billion yen ($55 million) venture, and NTT DoCoMo will invest the other 40 percent.