The low-key May 10 launch of Tap to Pay on iPhone in Japan follows a year of soon to be coming rumors that indicated FeliCa support. But that didn’t happen. All we got was plain old EMV Tap to Pay on iPhone that everybody else has been using since 2022. Why the holdup? Timing is everything. If Tap to Pay had launched 2 years ago there would have been a lot of interest, but the Japanese IT media response has been very tepid so far.
Tap to Pay on iPhone enters an already crowded payments solution provider (PSP) market where everybody offers the same basic solution: an off the shelf NFC read/write device with another device connected via Bluetooth hosting PSP software, usually an iPad. We have RakutenPay, GMO stera, Recruit AirPay, CardNet and Square just to name a few. All of these offer NFC, EMV plus the full lineup of FeliCa payments (Suica/Transit IC, iD, QUICPay, Edy, nanaco, WAON, PiTaPa) and code payments (PayPay, dBARAI, auPay, etc.).
The Tap to Pay on iPhone sales point is that everything comes in the iPhone box. All the potential user does is download a PSP app from the App Store, create and configure an account, and they’re all set for tap to pay payment acceptance. The ProximityReader framework that drives Tap to Pay on iPhone appears to be NFC agnostic. FeliCa is just one flavor of NFC and iPhone is already FAST certified. One would think the FeliCa side should be good to go. Perhaps there are some additional FeliCa certification steps for PSP. We do know that Stripe Japan will be supporting Tap to Pay on iPhone in the near future and they have a history of working closely with JR East. We shall see.
Apple has always played a fair NFC hand, supporting all the major protocols (EMV, FeliCa, MIFARE, Calypso and more) for wide acceptance. One hopes that ‘tap to pay’ is in the same league and doesn’t become an EMVCo. exclusive trade name.
You must be logged in to post a comment.