Japan gears up to push its cell phone technology abroad

Most of us wore a watch once upon a time, but with the introduction of cool new gadgets like a digital watch, then a digital diary and now the mobile phone the need to carry different gizmos around has narrowed to just one multi functional device that fits a watch, a phone, a camera and others. Well now that we have gone eons ahead of wearing a watch the need for a device has emerged which will give us the financial flexibility that cash simply cannot offer. Sure, there is the credit card, but it requires a swipe machine to be present with the retailer. Japan has the most advanced mobile technologies available for its tech savvy public, with 3G and in some experimental cases even 4G implementation, mobile digital TV, and wireless technologies all integrated into a humble phone being the norm there. However Japan has not been able to promote its technology to the rest of the world, now officials at the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications have initiated to change this. Japan wants to promote the wallet phone; the technology which relies on a tiny computer chip called FeliCa, embedded in each cell phone communicates with a reader-device at stores, train stations and vending machines for cashless payments. This could radically change the way we use mobile phones eliminating the need to carry a wallet and directly linking our bank accounts, spending money will become a lot easier.

Sony Corp helped develop the FeliCa for Japanese telecom operator NTT DoCoMo and it has been providing the wallet feature since 2005 successfully with most of the new phones. The exact budget plans are yet to be announced but we can expect a big bang soon from Japan by way of organizing international missions and seminars to promote its mobile technology.
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