Back in the pre-iPhone era Japanese manufactures were busy churning out internet connected, e-wallet capable handsets with high quality cameras (for that time) that most of the western IT media pooh-poohed: ‘nobody needs all that fancy stuff’.
Unfortunately the Japanese IT media paid way too much attention to it all endlessly handwringing over the Galapagos Syndrome of Japanese technology that nobody seemed to need or want. Worse than that, people actually bought the media con. Then something strange happened in 2016 when Apple unveiled FeliCa Apple Pay and went global with it in 2017.
Google is now following the same path with a FeliCa Pixel 3 in Japan. Why would Apple and Google do that if FeliCa was stranded in the Galapagos? There is business value there, otherwise they would not be spending resources to do it. Most of the Japanese IT media has ignored this fascinating turn of events, focusing instead on the new darling of manufactured “QR Code mania” payment platforms: AliPay, Origami Pay, Docomo d-PAY (d-HARAI), Line Pay, Rakuten Pay, Pay Pay. The merits are dubious:
Demerits of OR Code Payments
- QR requires a good network connection
- Slow transaction speed
- Weak Security and QR Code Chinese payment apps keep transaction records in Mainland China
- Device needs be on and screen active
- No ‘on the spot’ refunds
Merits of FeliCa (NFC-F) Payments
- Works without network connection
- Very fast transactions
- High security and transaction records stay in Japan
- Device can be in battery reserve mode sleep or screen off
- On the spot refunds
Fortunately there is one Japanese journalist who is calling it: Masahiro Sano. Sano san’s latest piece on Nikkei notes the irony of Japanese companies falling over each other to roll out useless redundant QR Code platforms because QR Codes are “standard in China” (and nowhere else), while Apple and Google are deploying FeliCa as one more standard checklist item on their digital wallet platforms.
Fake QR Code payment mania confuses customers. Put another way QR Code payment platform apps are about de-centralizing the digital wallet into an ever-growing collection of apps while Apple Pay and Google Pay are about centralizing different technologies into a unified and smooth user experience for payments, tickets, IDs, reward cards and more. Which approach do you think will win in the long run?
Sano san thinks QR Code payment platforms in Japan are not about public demand or customers actually using them. They’re just a fad that will fade and eventually be shipped off to the Galapagos. I think he is right. The evidence so far certainly backs him up.
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