 Look inside almost anyone's purse or pocket, and it probably contains at least a mobile phone and a wallet bulging with bills, coins, receipts, credit cards, IDs, train or buspassesand any number of membership cards.
In Japan, that may soon be a thing of the past as the mobile industry aims to combine the two with a small embedded chip that can also store money and personal information. NTT DoCoMo Inc., Japan's largest mobileoperator, on July 18 became the first operator to launch a wallet phone, equipped with Sony Corp.'sFeliCa smart chip, which can be quickly read by passing it over a scanner. "FeliCa is going to be a basic requirement for me when I upgrade my phone," said 31-year-old Norihiko Fujimori, who works for a Japanese Internet Startup in Tokyo. "It'll be extremely convenient if my phone can contain everything." The concept of a wallet phone is justgetting off the ground, but the smart chip technology is not new in Asia. Tokyo commuters have used "Suica" train passes with an embedded FeliCa chip for nearly three years, and 9,000 convenience stores, restaurants and retail outlets around the country accept pre-paidrechargeable debit cardsknown as Edy. "The biggest advantage of Edy is that it gets rid of coins and transactions are faster," said Takashi Nakamura, manager at bitWallet Inc., which operates the Edy network. Nakamura said it was too early to consider taking the technology overseas to Europe and the United States, but admitted that bitWallet decided on the name "Edy," which stands for euro, dollar and yen, with global ambitions in mind. In other parts of Asia, Hong Kong residents use "Octopus" smart cards to access trains, buses, and ferries or pay for merchandise or parking. Singapore also has a similar system. In Japan, expectations are high that FeliCa will change the way consumers and businesses function on a daily basis. Videogame maker Sega Corp. tested a service in which customers at its entertainment centers can use FeliCa-compatible mobile phones to play games. Credit card company JCB gave employees mobile phones that could be used as company identification cards and for purchases atvending machinesand in the company cafeteria. While some consumers express concerns about carrying phones that contain electronic money and personal information or having their purchases monitored, J.P. Morgan's Katsuma said it was no different than carrying a wallet or credit card. "Everybody doesn't need to carry them," said Katsuma. "Only people, who are into that sort of thing or are high-end users, should use them. It's like an airline mileage membership." (Agencies)
| 翻開任何人的皮包或衣袋看看，里面都可能至少有一部手機和一個鼓鼓的錢包，錢包里裝滿了紙幣、硬幣、收據、信用卡、身份證、火車或汽車通票，還有許多會員卡。 在日本，這一切可能很快就會成為過去，因為日本移動通信產業正打算用一塊同樣能夠存儲錢和個人信息的內置小芯片把二者（手機和錢包）結合起來。 7月18日，日本最大的移動通信運營商NTT移動通信網公司率先推出了內置索尼FeliCa智能芯片的“錢包手機”，能夠在通過掃描器時被迅速讀取。 “當我給手機升級時，FeliCa卡將成為一項基本需求。如果我的手機能包羅萬事，那將非常方便。”31歲的藤森彥（Norihiko Fujimori）說，他在東京Internet Startup日本分公司工作。 “錢包手機”的概念才剛剛興起，但智能卡技術在亞洲已經不算新鮮了。 經常乘車往返的乘客使用內置FeliCa智能卡的Suica火車通票已經快三年了。遍布日本全國的9000家便利店、飯店和零售攤點都接受可充值的Edy預付借記卡。 Edy網絡運營商bitWallet公司經理中村隆(Takashi Nakamura)說：“Edy最大的優點在于它脫離了硬幣，使交易速度更快。”
中村認為，在歐洲和美國等海外國家推廣這項技術還為時尚早，但他承認bitWallet公司確定的Edy這個名字代表著歐元，美元和日元，顯示了其在全球范圍內發展的雄心。 在亞洲其他地區，香港居民使用Octopus智能卡來乘坐火車、汽車、輪船，購物或繳停車費。新加坡也有類似的系統。 在日本，人們對于FeliCa卡的期望值很高，希望它能改變消費者和企業的日常運作模式。 視頻游戲制造商Sega公司試驗了一種服務，該服務讓娛樂中心的用戶可以用兼容FeliCa卡的手機玩游戲。 日本國際信用卡公司JCB發給員工一種手機，既能用作公司身份卡，也能在售貨機上和公司自助餐廳里購物。 一些消費者擔心包含電子貨幣和個人信息的手機的攜帶問題，以及消費情況可能會受到監視。但摩根大通的勝馬（Katsuma）說，這和拿著錢夾或信用卡沒什么不同。 勝馬說：“不是每個人都需要帶著它們。只有需要這類業務的人們或高端用戶應該使用它們。它就像航空公司里程積累制的會員身份一樣。” pass: 通行證，入場券
operator: 經營者，行家
FeliCa:索尼公司推出的一種非接觸式智能卡。如其名所示，FeliCa的含義是由felicity（靈巧）和card（卡）組合而成，FeliCa帶給人們的是更為方便舒適的生活方式。
smart chip: 智能芯片
get off the ground: 開始發行，飛起
rechargale debit card: 可充值的借記卡
vending machine: 自動售貨機 （中國日報網站譯） |
Updated: 2004-07-20 01:00
