Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
This is great news, I hope Apple will cooperate with Octopus Card in Hong Kong as well. Apple Pay is amazing, but unfortunately not as fast as Octopus card and can't be used for public transportation.
 
How do we know this isn't a FeliCa 'leak' really just some business positioning itself against similar competitors in Japan, with no basis in fact? I guess we will know in a week or so.
 
yes. yes. yes.
thank god.
in japan there are two mobile payment systems and both have 100% market saturation.
apple stood no chance of getting its general NFC terminals in place.
since this means that apple will use Felica system in Japan, this also means that no other company would be able to get into Japan without doing the same thing.
buy yr apple stock now.
because sales will explode once this happens.

Two companies cannot have 100% satuaration. Apple doesn't have any NFC terminals.

For the first time in years Apple is using a little intelligence, if only it would do tht around the world.

Stock price will not explode.
 
Looks like they could develop the similar thing for Australian banks to have their own Pay systems, all banks for that matter - wonder why Japan's getting such special treatment?

I would guess market size. Japan has a large population with a considerable amount of disposable income.

Mecha

Also, Japan already has a lot of modern infrastructure that existed way before smartphones were a thing. Redoing it all to fit an international standard would be too expensive of an undertake.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ddkkpp
Everyone already made this joke when the forums were down for me, but...
felica.png
 
My question is how fast is this system? Apple Pay is pretty damn fast and they say this is faster!???

The transaction is completed in 0.2 seconds. In Tokyo at the train stations, if you take more than a second to go through the gate you hold up the line. The cards are created so that you do not have to stop walking and you can even run through the ticket gate because of how quickly the card is read.

This is great news if true, and would be the only thing that compelled me to upgrade from my current 6 Plus to a 7 if introduced in the new models this year.
 
If this is true, why is it better to add them only to phones sold in Japan rather than adding them to all phones? Wouldn't that just make more sense?

...

I'm guessing it costs money to use it (as in Apple has to pay Sony).

Sorry for noob question but what's the difference between a FeliCa chip and "normal" NFC? Why can't non-Japanese users get an NFC chip to use for purposes other than Apple Pay?

I'm guessing NFC is open and FeliCa is owned by Sony.
 
  • Like
Reactions: neier
Does anyone know what makes the claim that FeliCa faster than Apple Pay? I can't find the data rate Apple Pay operates on, but FeliCa is a 1997 non-ISO standard (because it was developed prior to ISO standards) NFC that use the 212kbit/s rate, whilst there is a 424kbit/s rate available as standard.

If the speed claim is not related to the actual data transfer, it leads me to believe that the speed claim only comes from value being pre-loaded on to the card (like other RFID transport systems like Oyster/GoCard/Myki etc), and not having to communicate with an online banking/credit system.
 
Does anyone know what makes the claim that FeliCa faster than Apple Pay? I can't find the data rate Apple Pay operates on, but FeliCa is a 1997 non-ISO standard (because it was developed prior to ISO standards) NFC that use the 212kbit/s rate, whilst there is a 424kbit/s rate available as standard.

If the speed claim is not related to the actual data transfer, it leads me to believe that the speed claim only comes from value being pre-loaded on to the card (like other RFID transport systems like Oyster/GoCard/Myki etc), and not having to communicate with an online banking/credit system.

There is no need to communicate with an online banking or credit system. Everything is on the card.

There are some credit cards that do have the FeliCa chip, however. I'm not sure how they communicate with the bank, but those also take 0.2 seconds (Japan Railways has a very strict standard and will not allow anything that takes more than 0.5 seconds to process, I believe).
 
That's incorrect. There are a lot more than two mobile payment systems in Japan. Excluding ones like ID, WAON, and Edy which are used to make payments in stores, for transportation there are: RapiCa, TOICA, ICOCA, Nagasaki Smart Card, passca, and PASPY, to name but a few.
[doublepost=1472175347][/doublepost]Many phones in Japan have had the FeliCa chip in them for around 12 years. It's about time Apple caught on.

Hi
I hope all is well for you.
Most of the names you list are built on Felica tech.
From Wikipedia:
Osaifu-Keitai system, used for Mobile Suica and many others including Edy and nanaco, has become the de facto standard method for mobile payments in Japan. Its core technology, Mobile FeliCa IC, is partially owned by Sony, NTT DoCoMo and JR East. Mobile FeliCa utilize Sony's FeliCa technology, which itself is the de facto standard for contactless smart cards in the country.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ddkkpp
Looks like they could develop the similar thing for Australian banks to have their own Pay systems, all banks for that matter - wonder why Japan's getting such special treatment?

20+ times our population, and there already is a setup our banks can use, but they dont want to give Apple any part of their billions of dollars profit.

Now if we could use their chip instead of our Opal Cards, then that would be a nice addition
 
Looks like they could develop the similar thing for Australian banks to have their own Pay systems, all banks for that matter - wonder why Japan's getting such special treatment?

It's a totally different scenario. The IC readers here are all based on a different standard, so even with a foreign credit card from an Apple Pay country, I can't use the terminals here. And those terminals are basically everywhere. On the other hand, as the Australian POS terminals use the standard, I could use Apple Pay there before it launched in that country.

Japan is a huge market for Apple (much bigger than Australia), and FELICA based payment is almost everywhere. And they aren't about to start supporting the international standard. Makes perfect sense for Apple to support FELICA. Personally I can't wait!
 
  • Like
Reactions: ddkkpp
Yes, that is exactly my point. You can't claim speed advantages from a prepaid card over a debit/credit card. That's comparing Apple Pay and Orange Pay.
It depends on the scenario you are comparing. If you look at solutions for the Tokyo Metro and Japan Rail in the rush hours, and look at payment solutions the total transaction speed is required. Both can be used, but the speed advantage makes the other realistic while the other will be a bottleneck.
 
I wonder about "version of the iPhone for Japan that includes one of Sony's FeliCa chip" because the NCF chip in the iPhone can already do Felica. It just needs the right software.
 
Apple Pay: Phone>NFC>Terminal>NFC>Phone>Internet>Bank>Internet>Phone>NFC>Terminal>NFC>Phone

Felica: Phone>Felica>Terminal>Internet>Bank>Internet>Terminal>Felica>Phone

I think this is how it works?
 
Apple Pay: Phone>NFC>Terminal>NFC>Phone>Internet>Bank>Internet>Phone>NFC>Terminal>NFC>Phone

Felica: Phone>Felica>Terminal>Internet>Bank>Internet>Terminal>Felica>Phone

I think this is how it works?
iPhones don't need to be online for Apple Pay transactions. They communication to the backend/authorization is done by the terminal.
 
Other phones (in particular, run-of-the-mill Android phones) have had apps doing FeliCa through their regular NFC chips for years. Why does Apple need a separate chip? (Update: it appears I’m wrong, and all other phones already have hybrid chips. Oh well.)
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: kdarling
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.