Mobile E-Payments 2005 Forcast

The market for electronic settlements via portable handsets such as mobile phones is likely to start growing in Japan in 2005, say brokerage houses. Nomura Research Institute Inc (NRI), a unit of Japan’s largest brokerage house Nomura Securities, said in a report that it estimates the market of mobile platforms—infrastructures that support electronic settlements and electronic certification through mobile phones—will double to 52.2 bn yen in 2005 from 29.8 bn in 2004, and will expand by eight times to 240.1 bn yen in 2009. 

Last year, NTT DoCoMo started selling the first mobile phone handset with smart-card electronic cash, train pass and identification card functions, and launched related cash settlement services.On December 24, DoCoMo began selling a handset that authenticates fingerprints, which enhances security of handsets that are equipped with electronic settlement functions. Continue >>