No launch of a proposed “Mobile Suica” service would happen before 2004, and that’s only if JR East can sell the operators on the idea. The service, as contemplated, would allow commuters to buy their transit tickets on the mobile Internet and download them to a miniature contactless card in the handsets. They could then simply slide their phones over contactless gate readers, just as commuters now do with credit card-sized Suica chip cards. But, according to the plans for Mobile Suica, this would require operators to order handsets equipped with small built-in readers, says the source.

This situation could pose a problem because the Japanese market demands light handsets, between 80 and 100 grams. Size restrictions also mean operators would not equip handsets with attachments that could read and store the full-size Suica cards. Two of Japan’s three wireless network operators, NTT DoCoMo and J-Phone, are including subscriber identity module smart cards in their handsets for their rollouts of third-generation wireless networks over the next few years, but the contactless Suica card would be separate.

However, if mobile operators sign on, JR East sees other possibilities, including storing discount coupons, music and other electronic ticketing data on the cards, such as those from airlines. The services would utilise “FeliCa” contactless technology from Sony Corp., which JR East now utilises for close to 4 million fare collection chip cards it has issued. FeliCa is also used in the Edy electronic purse Sony is pushing in Japan, and DoCoMo, an investor in the purse scheme, has expressed support for testing use of an embedded Edy card in customer handsets.