DoCoMo Hopes Wallet Phones Will Take Off
Japan's top cellular operator NTT DoCoMo Inc. unveiled a new service that will let customers use their handsets as train tickets, part of the company's mission to transform the cellphone into a digital wallet for everything from buying food to opening doors.
The service, based on smart-card technology developed by Sony Corp., is crucial for DoCoMo as it struggles to retain customers in a competitive market. It is also the latest step in the cellular giant's move to redefine its business model -- an effort that's being watched closely by carriers world-wide.
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Last year, DoCoMo, in a joint venture with Sony, introduced its first handsets embedded with the electronics maker's FeliCa smart cards. The cards contain a chip for storing electronic money and personal information. Retailers can install equipment that allows customers to make purchases by waving the phone over a sensor.
Some two million FeliCa-equipped handsets have been sold -- or around 4% of DoCoMo's total -- and the number of retailers who've adopted the system is limited. DoCoMo hopes the ability to use the handsets to buy tickets and board trains will push the phones into more widespread use.
Clearing a turnstile with a wave of the hand has already proved popular with Japan's commuters. Millions have bought rechargeable plastic cards embedded with the FeliCa chip sold by East Japan Railway Co., the company that is teaming with DoCoMo and Sony to extend the service to cellphones. The companies will begin testing the new service in March, with a launch scheduled for January 2006.
For Sony, the development increases the potential number of users for the FeliCa smart card, which allows information to be passed between a chip and a reader extremely quickly, without physical contact. So far, the main use for FeliCa has been in train passes and prepaid tickets. Sony says it has delivered more than 70 million FeliCa cards so far world-wide.
The new service "may be one of the killer applications" that pushes wallet phones into widespread use in Japan, says Kazuyo Katsuma , a telecoms analyst with JP Morgan Securities Asia. She says the smart card-embedded phones, combined with price cuts, have reduced defections by DoCoMo customers to rivals KDDI Corp. and Vodafone Group PLC's Japan unit.
Still, DoCoMo is expecting annual revenue to fall -- for the first time in its 13-year history -- for the fiscal year ending March 31. The company, which got millions of Japanese to use their cellphones to access the Internet and pay to download data, has seen these revenues fall lately amid a price war in data fees.
The company is touting the mobile wallet as its next step in the evolution of the cellphone, with ideas like opening apartment-door locks with its phones. But while such gadgets may boost customer loyalty, it is unclear how DoCoMo is going to make money off these services, which seem unlikely to significantly raise data or voice traffic.
DoCoMo President Masao Nakamura and other executives have suggested that the company may eventually venture into the consumer-financing or credit-card business. But for the time being, they say they are focused on increasing the penetration of FeliCa phones.
"First, the cellphone was for voice, then for e-mail and the Internet," he said, at a press conference announcing the train pass service. "Now, it's evolving into an all-around lifestyle tool."
NTT移动通讯借力“数字钱包”概念
日本最大的移动运营商NTT移动通讯(NTT DoCoMo Inc.)新推出的一项服务，使得用户能用手机购买火车票，并充当乘车凭证。这是该公司全面打造手机“数字钱包”计划的一部分，计划中NTT移动通讯希望手机将兼具从购物付帐到开启房门等多种功能。
在NTT移动通讯极力留住用户之际，这项基于索尼(Sony Corp., 又名:新力公司)智能卡技术的服务意义尤为重要。这也是该公司重新定义其商业模式的最新举措，受到了全球运营商的密切关注。
去年，NTT移动通讯与索尼的合资公司推出了首款索尼FeliCa智能卡手机，这种智能卡的晶片中存有电子货币和个人信息。零售商只要在收银处安装一种设备，消费者便可以晃动一下手机就完成付帐。
目前FeliCa智能卡手机已销售了大约200万部，约占NTT移动通讯手机总量的4%，但已安装相关收银设备的零售商数量并不多。NTT移动通讯希望在将手机用于购买火车票并作为乘车凭证的基础上，将其功能进一步拓宽。
FeliCa智能卡在经常乘坐火车上下班的日本人中非常受欢迎。已有几百万人购买了东日本旅客铁道(East Japan Railway Co.)发售的FeliCa晶片充值卡。东日本旅客铁道是NTT移动通讯和索尼此项手机火车票服务推广的合作伙伴，该服务将从3月份开始测试，定于2006年1月推出。
对索尼而言，这将大大增加使用FeliCa智能卡的潜在用户。迄今为止，FeliCa智能卡的用途主要还是局限于火车票和预付费票。据索尼称，其在全球已交付了7,000多万张FeliCa智能卡。
JP Morgan Securities Asia的电信业分析师Kazuyo Katsuma说，这项新服务可能成为最风靡的应用之一，大大推进数字钱包概念在日本的普及。她说，智能卡手机的推出和降价措施已使得NTT移动通讯的客户向KDDI Corp.和沃达丰空中通讯(Vodafone Group PLC)日本子公司流失的现象大为减少。
NTT移动通讯预计截至3月31日的本财年收入将出现下降，这将是该公司13年来头一遭。由于数据资费价格战，该公司收入近来呈现下降。
NTT移动通讯大力宣扬数字钱包以及用手机开房门能的功能是手机发展的大势所趋。这些新功能的确可能提高客户的忠诚度，但还不清楚NTT移动通讯将如何从这些服务中获利，因为此类服务看来不会显著提高数据或语音流量。
NTT移动通讯总裁中村维夫(Masao Nakamura)及其他管理人员曾建议该公司最终可进入消费者融资或信用卡业务。但在目前，他们表示，重点是提高FeliCa电话的普及率。
中村维夫在宣布推出火车票服务的新闻发布会上说，最初手机是提供语音服务，然后是兼具电子邮件和上网功能，现在手机正在演变成全能的生活工具。”
