It’s looking like Apple Pay will be expanding to Japan in the future, thanks to a partnership with Sony. While Apple Pay has been available in a handful of countries, Japan till now has been excluded due to their contactless payment systems which incorporate Sony’s FeliCa technology, something which isn’t supported on iPhone.

Juli Clover writing for MacRumors:

 FeliCa is Sony’s tap-to-pay format, which has been widely adopted in Japan. It’s used to access the country’s railway and bus system, and it’s able to store e-money that can be used at vending machines, cafes, and other locations equipped with FeliCa systems. FeliCa is able to process transactions in a fraction of a second, making it suitable for use in a fast-paced transit environment. 

The big difference between the contactless payment systems found in the US and Europe and those in Japan is a specific hardware requirement that’s more than just NFC and cannot be fulfilled via software. For that reason, previous models of iPhones will not be compatible in Japan as a specific chip is required that would allow Apple Pay to work with the contactless terminals.

As it stands, Apple Pay is available in

 nine countries including the United States, United Kingdom, China, Australia, Canada, Switzerland, Hong Kong, France, and Singapore. Apple Pay vice president Jennifer Bailey has said Apple is “working rapidly” to expand the service to additional countries in Asia and Europe. 

Though not through mobile phones and instead via chip based cards, contactless payment is something of a norm in Japan. This alone offers a big advantage for tech companies who want to offer contactless solutions in Japan where they don’t have to worry about educating the consumer about the tech. Unfortunately in the US, the opposite is true where we haven’t enjoyed years of contactless payment via credit cards and the entire process is mostly new.

Discuss:

Do you use contactless payment on a day-to-day basis like Apple Pay or Google Wallet?