FeliCa and MiFare Founders Unveil Moversa

NXP, founded by Philips, and Sony Corporation have announced the formation of Moversa, a joint venture to drive global adoption of contactless smart card applications in mobile phones using Near Field Communication (NFC). Moversa will plan, develop, produce and market a secure chip, a Universal Secure Access Module (U-SAM), that incorporates both MIFARE and FeliCa operating systems and applications. The U-SAM will also support other contactless operating systems and applications based on customer requirements. Moversa will be led by co-presidents Guus Frericks of NXP and Toshio Yoshihara of Sony.

Moversa paves the way for consumers to use mobile handsets for various contactless applications such as mobile payments and transport ticketing, anytime, anywhere. The U-SAM products will provide mobile device manufacturers with the technology to design global products compatible with different contactless protocols and operating systems deployed in different countries. This enables service providers such as mobile phone operators, transportation network operators and credit card companies to accelerate the rollout of advanced contactless services to mobile phone users. First samples of the secure chip will be available by mid-2008 for solutions embedded in mobile phones. Initial commercial deployments are targeted for the end of next year.

Hiromasa Otsuka, corporate executive and senior vice president, Sony Corporation, commented: “The offerings from Moversa will enable users around the globe to enjoy a wide range of services that will change their lifestyles simply by touching a terminal with a mobile phone. Moversa will also bring Sony great opportunities to offer, on a worldwide basis, the contactless IC business model it has established in Japan, where mobile phone wallet services are deployed in multi-application, multi-handset and multi-carrier modes.”

According to the outline each company will hold an equal 50% share of the new venture, with start-up capitalization pegged at $28M, and the global HQ will be based in Vienna.