Tag: SoftBank

The Weekly #4

August 8, 2021

Pixel 6 Tensor and the secure element

After many years of rumors Google finally unveiled their custom silicon, though details won’t be known until Pixel 6 devices go on sale. Dieter Bohn wrote:

Tensor is an SoC, not a single processor. And so while it’s fair to call it Google-designed, it’s also still unclear which components are Google-made and which are licensed from others. Two things are definitely coming from Google: a mobile TPU for AI operations and a new Titan M2 chip for security. The rest, including the CPU, GPU, and 5G modem, are all still a mystery.

Ever since Pixel 3 models went on sale in Japan with Mobile FeliCa support, inbound Pixel users have been pining for the same global NFC feature that iPhone and Apple Watch have, but it hasn’t happened. Here’s why.

On the NFC hardware side everything has been ready to go on all smartphone hardware for years because NFC A-B-F support is a requirement for NFC certification. The problem has been on the SE side, the black box where all the transaction magic happens. From GlobalPlatform the SE certification organization:

A SE is a tamper-resistant platform (typically a one chip secure microcontroller) capable of securely hosting applications and their confidential and cryptographic data (for example cryptographic keys) in accordance with the rules and security requirements set by well-identified trusted authorities.

There are different form factors of SE: embedded and integrated SEs, SIM/UICC, smart microSD as well as smart cards. SEs exist in different form factors to address the requirements of different business implementations and market needs.

GlobalPlatform Introduction to Secure Elements

SE Wars
In the pre-Apple Pay mobile carrier hardware era, carriers used SE SIM or a embedded Secure Element (eSE) + carrier SIM combo that chained customers to service contracts for the privilege of using mobile payments. This is the classic Osaifu Keitai model pioneered by NTT DOCOMO: an overpriced carrier SIM contract to use mobile payments only with select carrier handsets.

This carrier lock in model is one reason why Mobile FeliCa ended up being ridiculed as ‘galapagos technology’ even though everybody else copied it. This carrier SE SIM hostage situation, i.e. the Mobile Wallet SE Wars, led Apple and Google to follow different strategies to address the problem.

The Apple Pay Way
Apple’s answer of course was Apple Pay. A unique in-house strategy of putting a GlobalPlatform certified Secure Element in Apple Silicon. Most eSE go on the NFC controller, but doing it the Apple in-house way has advantages over a NFC chip vendor bundle: control of the eSE applets and ability to update them and the Apple eSE for new protocols in iOS updates. We saw this in action with the addition of FeliCa in 2016, PBOC in 2017 and MIFARE in 2018. We are seeing it again with the addition of Ultra Wideband (UWB) Touchless in iOS 15.

The Google Pay Way
Google’s answer to the carrier owned SE problem was a convoluted evolution from Google Wallet (2011) to Android Pay (2015) and finally Google Pay (2018). Google’s first salvo was Host Card Emulation (HCE): “NFC card emulation without a hardware secure element” a virtual secure element hosted on Google’s cloud or in an app. Later on Google attempted to do the same for FeliCa with HCE-F.

The HCE strategy was quietly abandoned when Google decided to get into the hardware business and Android Pay turned into Google Pay. Now we have Google Pay running on Google Pixel with its own embedded Secure Element (eSE). With Pixel and Google Pay, Google decided they didn’t want to be the Secure Element provider for every Android OEM out there especially when the Chinese OEMS are all rolling their own eSE based digital wallet services anyway, completely ignoring HCE. Sure, HCE/HCE-F is still there in Android developer documentation but it’s a vestigial relic of the SE wars. From an industry standpoint it’s eSE or nothing now.

Google Pixel models up to now have used vendor bundled eSE + NFC controllers with the Pixel JP models using the Osaifu Keitai software stack. This makes global NFC support more complicated because Google doesn’t ‘own’ the eSE and the software stack, at least not in the Apple sense of making their own all in one solution. As we have seen, Mobile FeliCa is installed on all Pixel 5 models but the Osaifu Keitai stack only loads on JP models.

Will a Tensor SoC that contains a Titan M2 and a custom eSE solve this? It all depends on whether Google goes deep instead of cheap by stripping Google Pay of its dependency on the Osaifu Keitai stack and create their own region free support stack. If so, inbound Pixel 6 users will have the ability to add Suica and other FeliCa cards out of the box.

The PASPY organ transplant

As pointed out previously, the PASPY transit card transition from NFC to QR is not going to be easy. Not only does HIroden have to swap out the basic technology infrastructure, they also have to swap out their IT system integrator partners. The PASPY system was built and is currently managed by NEC with the last server upgrade completed in 2014. A quick look at the system map illustrates the pain points that including swapping out the NFC reader infrastructure in trolleys and buses and replacing it with QR readers with mobile connectivity, a requirement because of central processing. There will also be a lot of pain for wide area commuters because going QR means cutting the cross compatibility cord with ICOCA, Suica, etc.

The mobile connection means a mobile operator has to be involved to make it work. The likely IT system candidate here is the same one behind all the QR transit systems in Japan so far: SoftBank backed QUADRAC. The PASPY QR replacement is expected to be closed loop, similar to the QR + smartphone app closed loop system being tested by Nankai. Too bad JR West can’t come to the rescue with a localized version of the Suica 2 in 1 Region Affiliate Transit Card, but that’s another story for another time.

To eSIM or not to eSIM

eSIMs are great in theory, unfortunately the current reality for Japanese customers is less than ideal even thought the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) is promoting them over traditional physical carrier SIMS and issued eSIM guidance. In addition to this carrier SIM locked devices will not be allowed from October. Of the big three carrier budget brands: NTT DOCOMO (ahamo), au KDDI (povo), SoftBank (LINEMO), only LINEMO and povo offer eSIM options. DOCOMO says they are thinking about it but for now ahamo is a physical SIM service because DOCOMO says eSIMS are not as secure as physical SIMS.

A recent article by Masao Sano outlined the eSIM situation in Japan and current obstacles for customers. The online signup process and device setup isn’t always smooth going and first time customers sometimes have to deal with unlocking their carrier device, APN settings, network authentication codes, profile installations and so-on. The eSIM process needs to be easier and user friendly. The good news is that unlocked carrier phones will be standard soon along with better eSIM option plans and migration setup. Once ahamo adds an eSIM option the next step will be taking it mainstream for major brand carrier contracts.

Apple Music finally sorts Japanese artist names correctly

Congratulations Naoko! You and all your fellow Japanese artists on Apple Music were finally liberated from the # sorting section and now live in 五十音 (Gojūon) splendor in iOS Music App. A very long wait though wasn’t it? Six years!

Seriously though I wonder what took Apple so long to fix most, but not all, of their Japanese music metadata mess. Not a moment too soon as the old reliable iTunes Match service seems to be on its last legs and the macOS Music app replacement for the old reliable iTunes app is completely useless for organizing a digital music collection: Apple Music and iCloud Music library have a mind of their own.

Truth be told, I had more fun collecting and listening to music on iTunes + iPod than discovering music on Apple Music + iPhone. For some strange reason, less is sometimes more.

The Weekly will be taking a summer break the weeks of August 9 and 16 and resume the week of September 1. Take care and enjoy the rest of the summer.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 9T FeliCa notes

Xiaomi announced a new smartphone for Japan, the Redmi Note 9T for sale exclusively through SoftBank. The model is the first Xiaomi device in Japan with Mobile FeliCa support and like Huawei Mobile FeliCa support is limited to carrier models only. There was some interesting Twitter discussion between Junya Suzuki and Junya Ishino regarding the latter’s article which had some Redmi Note 9T FeliCa details.

For the Redmi Note 9T Japan model Xiaomi bought a FeliCa chip and modified the 9T antenna and body design to accommodate it. A customized model just for Japan. Xiaomi did not go the custom embedded Secure Element route like Apple, Samsung and Huawei but saw a business opportunity with an exclusive SoftBank deal to recoup development costs and make money. The low price makes Redmi Note 9T one of the cheapest Osaifu Keitai Android devices sold in Japan. It also illustrates the piecemeal Android hardware business approach and why Global NFC is still pipe dream for Android users.

Line Pay Pay Pay

  • PayPay Super App

Disclaimer 1: As many regular readers know, I am not a QR Code fan. It’s not the technology so much as the assumption that the central processing model and constant network connections solve everything. When I went to Starbucks today I tried paying with the Starbucks app bar code and got a nice little rude reminder that when one link fails, the whole QR/bar code chain crashes. The WiFi at that particular Starbucks store is not robust and ends up jamming the smartphone 4G pipe because the device thinks there is a good WiFi connection. After 2 attempts without getting a bar code load, the staffer said, “turn off the WiFi.” I gave up and used Apple Pay Suica instead. Done.

Disclaimer 2: As many regular readers may not know, I am not a SoftBank fan. This goes back to the time when SoftBank bought Ziff Davis of which the Seybold Report was part of. SoftBank quickly destroyed the Ziff Davis business by sucking it dry and selling off the zombie for a good price before anyone realized it was dead. I wrote for the Seybold Report at the time. What had been a tightly run ship collapsed into chaos because the parent company starved the subsidiary groups and people didn’t get paid. Later on when I wrote reports for Off The Record Research, I regularly visited a Yahoo Japan source who complained that they could not create good iPhone apps because SoftBank constantly sucked the budgets dry. Later on he quietly told me he could not complain anymore because all the conference rooms were wired and everything was recorded. SoftBank is that kind of company. To me all they ever really do is play one big never ending shell game.

There are lots of people excited by the Line Pay/Yahoo Japan merger. IT reporter Junya Suzuki says it’s about creating a ‘Super App’ platform. Bloomberg says it’s about creating a super ‘big data’ platform that sucks up everybody’s everything (and of course nobody discusses where the big data will be stored and processed: will it stay in Japan or be sent to notoriously security lax Korean data centers).

There will be lots of news and discussion in the weeks to follow but it’s important to remember a few essential points.

One: Line Pay and PayPay operations are running in the red, some people estimate PayPay could never turn a profit with its current business model.

Two: neither SoftBank/Yahoo Japan nor NAVER/Line Pay own a real bank. At some point in the cashless payments process, real cash has to change hands. Payment processors without real bank operations have to live with real bank transaction rules and fees, real banks will always have the upper hand. Having a real bank for example, puts Rakuten in a much stronger position than SoftBank. Yahoo Japan does own half of Japan Net Bank but this is a co-venture and Yahoo Japan only runs the internet service side, the other half, the real bank transaction half is owned and run by SMBC. In this arrangement SMBC is calling the shots.

As for me, I have been hanging out on the Girls Channel where Japanese women let down their hair and diss. Japanese women make, or break, products in Japan, especially everything Keitai, not men. Comments on the Line Pay and PayPay merger are very interesting and cutting. They range from “Mercari Pay is disappearing next” to “Hello Rakuten, goodbye Hagebank,” (a diss of bald Masayoshi Son, but also a double entendre for the highly leveraged SoftBank going bust). Day after day it reads like the bloom is off the Line Pay Pay Pay rose and Japanese women who created the first Keitai boom and have money now, are ready to move on. They are in it for the campaigns but not really in it. I’m going to keep hanging out with the girls. It’s a lot more fun and informative than reading the news, and faster too.

Yes, iPhone Carrier Subsidies in Japan are Officially Dead: New Docomo Data Plans

The writing has been on the wall for over a year now, and sluggish iPhone XR sales only confirmed the fact, that iPhone carrier subsidies in Japan which have defined the industry since 2008, were dying. Today’s Docomo announcement unveiled new plans that discard all the complexity of previous plans like ‘FOMA’, ‘Xi’ and ‘docomo with’ all of which disappear on May 31, with 2 simple choices:

  • Giga-Ho: ¥4,980 a month for 30GB
  • Giga-Lite: ¥1,980 a month for 1GB with other date tiers available, 3GB@3,980, 5GB@4,980, 7GB@5,980

Docomo customers can apply for the plans from the Docomo web site or a Docomo shop starting May 22, service starts June 1. There are many configurations and new options available, from home internet bundle discounts to new family data sharing. And it looks like tethering fees are gone. Depending on the configuration savings can be as large as 40% compared to previous plans.

At first glance customers will still need to do some homework via the online cost simulator (something that Japanese love to do), or visit the nearest Docomo shop to find the configuration that fits your needs while giving the best discount. This is just part 1 of the continuing saga of data plans without subsidies. At the end of the announcement Docomo said stay tuned for more. KDDI au and SoftBank should be announcing new plans soon, and we’ll get Docomo part 2 when the new iPhones come out this fall.

SoftBank Launching iPhone XR Happy Price Campaign January 30

It looks like Apple is working with Japanese carriers to drum up iPhone XR sales. Docomo already issued a limited iPhone XR discount campaign in December aimed mainly at carrier switchers. Today’s SoftBank announcement of the “iPhone XR Happy Price Campaign” that launches on January 30 appears to be a broader ¥10,800 discount for customers who purchase a iPhone XR with a 2 year contract. However the campaign page says nothing about upgrades. I guess the devil will be in the details.

As Tim Cook mentioned in his letter to investors, carrier subsidies are going away in other markets and Japan as well. Docomo, KDDI au and SoftBank are in a transition away from subsides under pressure from the Japanese Government to get consumer monthly data and voice costs down.