2004 Fujitsu F900iC

Launch of Wallet Mobile (Osaifu-Keitai) digital payments

It's the year 2004 #pastfuturetechnology.

NTT Docomo and Sony partner to launch Osaifu Keitai (Wallet Mobile) starting with a selection of MOVA 506 & FOMA 900-Series phones. The FeliCa enabled handsets, the same technology which is also embedded in Hong Kong's Octopus Card, can be topped up electronically to make payments via EDY, iD, DCMX,etc. enabled smartcard readers. Later in 2006, this would also cover Mobile Suica – public transport.

One of Fujitsu's first NFC capable FOMA (3G) phone is the Fujitsu F900iC. On top of the de-facto Multimedia features, the handset sports a fingerprint scanner, advanced security & privacy modes and 3G connectivity. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

NTT Docomo essentially launched a full-fledged mobile payments system, which initially resembled the Octopus smartcard payments system in Hong Kong, but quickly expanded in its offering and complexity. It would serve as a blueprint to ApplePay and SamsungPay a decade before iPhone launched ApplePay in the US.

How does one know whether a device is Osaifu-Keitai enabled? Simply look for the FeliCa Mark on the phone which indicates where the phone should be "touched" for NFC payments.

Has a particular device caught your attention? Is there something you've always wanted to know about it? Leave your comments or send a message!

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