Monday, December 15, 2008

Role of FeliCa cards in mobile commerce

With ABI Research reporting that commercial NFC deployments expected by 2013, the question is what technologies would people use for mobile commerce until then?

If mobile in mobile commerce implies mobility and not necessarily a mobile phone, then the lowly card form factor comes to mind as a possible option. Coincidentally, I came across a news article about Sony releasing a new version of PaSoRi, their PC/VAIO smart card reader/writer.

PaSoRi, in conjunction with both phones and cards, are being used for online commerce, topping transit tickets, gaming... Having said that, FeliCa cards are still the dominant form factor while mobile FeliCa (phones) is gaining traction and momentum. FeliCa cards and mobile FeliCa have been doing very well in both brick and click commerce.

What are your thoughts of the dominant mobile commerce technology over the next 5 years? What interim role can FeliCa cards play in mobile commerce? On a related note, is PaSoRi and FeliCa cards helping Sony sell more VAIOs and differentiate themselves from the competition?

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for your comments and interest in this blog.

    Best,
    Manju

    ReplyDelete