As I have pointed out countless times on this blog, Apple Pay Suica is one of the best Apple Pay services that Apple has hosted on its platform so far. The first transit card on Apple Pay remains the best: it combines the speed of the Suica transit card FeliCa architecture, the convenience of the Mobile Suica cloud, and the flexibility of the Apple Pay recharge backend.
This last point is under appreciated. The deal Apple and JR East worked out is the secret sauce: Apple Pay cards in Wallet just work for recharge, from Japan or from abroad, with no extra fees across the board, users earn points for the card of their choice. And users still have the option to recharge with cash if they want to.
A new kind of Wallet app
Toyota Wallet for iOS unveiled on November 19 finally gets right what other QR/Bar Code apps like PayPay have not: a flexible backend matched with a flexible frontend. A version for Android is due in the spring of 2020.
Toyota Wallet is built using the PAYCIERGE platform from TIS. The user has a choice between payments with QR/Bar Codes in the Toyota Wallet app with Origami Pay (credit) or Bank Pay (debit) accounts, or payment with a dual mode EMV/FeliCa iD Mastercard prepaid card in Wallet with the backend recharge hosted from Toyota Wallet.
An interesting side note here is that both PayPay and Line Pay have said that FeliCa cards are a possibility. Up until now this has just been lip service. It would be a welcome development if the Line Pay/Yahoo Japan merger produces a FeliCa/EMV dual mode payment option similar to what Toyota Wallet has done.
Toyota Wallet is still not open in the way that Apple Pay Suica is. All of the ‘recharge’ methods are in the SMBC orbit, even iD recharge credit cards have to be SMBC issue (such as Docomo dCard) Visa or Mastercard to avoid hefty recharge fees. It’s not perfect and remains chained to the SMBC financial ecosystem, but Toyota Wallet does point a way forward that I hope Toyota Finance Corp. continues to improve, and that other payment system operators follow.
Summary
The Toyota Wallet flexible backend/flexible frontend development is a step forward for digital wallet possibility. This is the first Japanese wallet app where the frontend technology is a simple user choice, not a straitjacket. It shows the innovation possible in Japanese payments market where the focus is on creative thinking. That this kind of innovation comes first on the Apple Pay platform says all you need to know about Apple Pay being open. Compare this approach to the Europe one where the focus is forcing others to solve problems that Europeans should be solving themselves. That approach is a political one, not an innovative solution, or progress.
it’s all Apple’s fault 1 
it’s all Apple’s fault 2 
it’s all Apple’s fault 3
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