TOKYO – JCB, an international payment brand, announced that it will start a QUICPay contactless payment system trial project in November. The QUICPay system offers users simple offline payments in less than one second and can be used in a variety of contactless chip media. The current trial will implement the system in mobile phones compatible with NTT DoCoMo’s mobile wallet service. Twenty employees of the Kanachu Hire taxi company will receive NTT DoCoMo mobile wallet service handsets to download the QUICPay application, while about 30 of the company’s cabs will be equipped with contactless readers. The POS readers and data processing system at Kanachu Hire will be provided by SAXA.
QUICPay ("Quick and Useful IC Payment") is expected to be faster and more convenient than cash. Part of the customer's existing credit limit is assigned to a contactless IC chip which may be embedded in a plastic card or incorporated in the customer's i-mode FeliCa mobile wallet service phone as in the current trial. The QUICPay amount is billed to the customer's existing credit card just like any other card purchase.
The trial will run for two months in preparation for the full-scale release of the QUICPay system in the spring of 2005.
