Now for the cell wallet

TOKYO – As it is, you don’t leave home without it.

In a world of cashless payment, why not simply make your cell phone a wallet? Japan has long been phasing out the hassle of coins and bills with microchip-laden “smart cards,” which let people make electronic payments for everything from lunch to the daily commute. But even smart cards could be on their way out, their plastic presence overtaken by virtual-wallet technology now available in the everyday cell phone.Other nations, led by South Korea), already have so-called mobile commerce payment schemes in place that let people punch keys on their cell phones so that the devices trigger transactions.But a series of phones going on sale this summer in Japan, for use on NTT DoCoMo’s wireless network, are the world’s first with an embedded computer chip that you can fill up with electronic cash.The wireless company loaned me a P506iC handset from Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.and I was in business.Well, almost.First I had to find a machine that’s used to stoke smart cards with cash.They can be found in some convenience stores and offices in Japan.You place the phone in a special slot and slip bills into the machine.The phones have a 50 000-yen (about N$2 700) limit.To pay you simply wave your cell phone within a few inches of a special display found in stores, restaurants and vending machines around Japan.A fairy-like tinkling sound means your purchase is being deducted from the embedded chip using radio-frequency ID technology.It’s instantaneous.Unlike infrared or other mobile payment schemes that require clicks on the handset, you don’t even need to open your clamshell-shaped phone, the style of choice here.It’s rather fun to pay for things this way.Computer experts have suggested that hackers could develop a way to pickpocket cell phone wallets merely by getting close to people’s handsets.That hasn’t happened — yet.One Japanese airline lets passengers use the wallet phone to speed up check-ins at airports and next year you’ll be able to use the phones to begin paying for train rides and video rentals.Later this year, Japanese credit-card company JCB Corp.plans to offer a service that will let corporate clients use chip-embedded phones as electronic keys to get into office buildings.And if you lose your wallet phone? Well, DoCoMo can lock it.Which means no one else can use it for calls.And no one else would be able to add more money to the cash-dispensing chip.But whatever money is stored on the phone is like a virtual wad of cash.The clerk at the DoCoMo store repeatedly told me not to put any more money into the phone than I could afford to lose.- Nampa-APBut even smart cards could be on their way out, their plastic presence overtaken by virtual-wallet technology now available in the everyday cell phone.Other nations, led by South Korea), already have so-called mobile commerce payment schemes in place that let people punch keys on their cell phones so that the devices trigger transactions.But a series of phones going on sale this summer in Japan, for use on NTT DoCoMo’s wireless network, are the world’s first with an embedded computer chip that you can fill up with electronic cash.The wireless company loaned me a P506iC handset from Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.and I was in business.Well, almost.First I had to find a machine that’s used to stoke smart cards with cash.They can be found in some convenience stores and offices in Japan.You place the phone in a special slot and slip bills into the machine.The phones have a 50 000-yen (about N$2 700) limit.To pay you simply wave your cell phone within a few inches of a special display found in stores, restaurants and vending machines around Japan.A fairy-like tinkling sound means your purchase is being deducted from the embedded chip using radio-frequency ID technology.It’s instantaneous.Unlike infrared or other mobile payment schemes that require clicks on the handset, you don’t even need to open your clamshell-shaped phone, the style of choice here.It’s rather fun to pay for things this way.Computer experts have suggested that hackers could develop a way to pickpocket cell phone wallets merely by getting close to people’s handsets.That hasn’t happened — yet.One Japanese airline lets passengers use the wallet phone to speed up check-ins at airports and next year you’ll be able to use the phones to begin paying for train rides and video rentals.Later this year, Japanese credit-card company JCB Corp.plans to offer a service that will let corporate clients use chip-embedded phones as electronic keys to get into office buildings.And if you lose your wallet phone? Well, DoCoMo can lock it.Which means no one else can use it for calls.And no one else would be able to add more money to the cash-dispensing chip.But whatever money is stored on the phone is like a virtual wad of cash.The clerk at the DoCoMo store repeatedly told me not to put any more money into the phone than I could afford to lose.- Nampa-AP