Sony Corp's Edy electronic money system will be used by UFJ Holdings Inc and six other consumer finance companies to boost credit card use, according to the system's developer, Sony subsidiary BitWallet Inc.
UFJ, Japan's fourth-biggest lender, along with Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp, Sony Finance International Co, Life Co, DC Card Co and Kokunai Shinpan Co will adopt the Edy function into new or existing cards by the end of March 2004, BitWallet spokesman Makoto Yamada said.
Edy cards are already sold and accepted at some convenience stores. Users pay to add value to the cards, which are fitted with a microchip to store balance information. The finance companies hope adding the prepaid option to their cards will attract customers and boost overall use, including paying with credit.
"They can boost convenience for their credit card users by offering another way of payment," said Minoru Hattori, an analyst at Okasan Securities Co. "They don't have to do anything extra by adding Edy to their cards."
Sony already supplies its electronic card technology for prepaid, or stored-value smart cards to East Japan Railway Co for travel payments, and has delivered 12 million FeliCa smart cards to Octopus Cards Ltd in Hong Kong, a company controlled by the government-owned subway operator MTR Corp and four other transport operators. The popular Octopus cards are used for travel and retail payments. FeliCa cards are also used in Singapore for travel, according to Sony's Web site.
BitWallet was established in January 2001 by Sony and other investors, including NTT DoCoMo Inc, Japan's biggest mobile phone services company, to develop and manage the Edy prepaid smart card system. Sony group companies own 46 percent of BitWallet, while NTT DoCoMo has 14.7 percent. Sumitomo Mitsui group companies also own 11.9 percent.
BitWallet said last November it aims to have 8.5 million cards and 23,000 customers by March 2004.
UFJ Card Co, a unit of UFJ Holdings, will issue the so-called stored-value smart cards to about 600 employees in Tokyo in November, said Masaya Mizutani, planning section chief at the company.
UFJ Card, which has 8.6 million of cardholders in Japan, is aiming to draw new users by adding value to its credit cards, Mizutani said.
"Charming customers by improving cards functions is the most significant to get new cardholders," Mizutani said.
Sumitomo Mitsui Card Co also plans to offer the Edy feature on its credit cards, company spokesman Hiroyasu Tomita said. That Edy is already in use boosted its attractiveness, he said.
"Sony's Edy system already has an infrastructure," Tomita said. "In that sense, it may be the most influential in the market."
‘REGRETTABLE’: TPP lawmaker Vivian Huang said that ‘we will continue to support Chairman Ko and defend his innocence’ as he was transferred to a detention facility The Taipei District Court yesterday ruled that Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) be detained and held incommunicado over alleged corruption dating to his time as mayor of Taipei. The ruling reversed a decision by the court on Monday morning that Ko be released without bail. After prosecutors on Wednesday appealed the Monday decision, the High Court said that Ko had potentially been “actively involved” in the alleged corruption and ordered the district court to hold a second detention hearing. Ko did not speak to reporters upon his arrival at the district court at about 9:10am yesterday to attend a procedural
Thirty Taiwanese firms, led by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控), yesterday launched a silicon photonics industry alliance, aiming to accelerate the medium’s development and address the energy efficiency of artificial intelligence (AI) devices like data centers. As the world is ushering in a new AI era with tremendous demand for computing power and algorithms, energy consumption is emerging as a critical issue, TSMC vice president of integrated interconnect and packaging business C.K. Hsu (徐國晉) told a media briefing in Taipei. To solve this issue, it is essential to introduce silicon photonics and copackaged optics (CPO)
The High Court yesterday overturned a Taipei District Court decision to release Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and sent the case back to the lower court. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office on Saturday questioned Ko amid a probe into alleged corruption involving the Core Pacific City development project during his time as Taipei mayor. Core Pacific City, also known as Living Mall (京華城購物中心), was a shopping mall in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山) that has since been demolished. On Monday, the Taipei District Court granted a second motion by Ko’s attorney to release him without bail, a decision the prosecutors’ office appealed
GRAFT PROBE: Critics questioned Ko claiming he did not know about the Core Pacific floor area ratio issue until this year, citing a 2021 video in which he was asked about it Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was released without bail early yesterday, while his deputy during his tenure as Taipei mayor was detained and held incommunicado after being questioned since Friday over graft allegations related to a shopping center redevelopment project. Prosecutors on Saturday filed a request with the Taipei District Court to officially detain Ko and former Taipei deputy mayor Pong Cheng-sheng (彭振聲) over allegations surrounding the redevelopment of Core Pacific City, also known as Living Mall (京華城購物中心). The court yesterday determined that the evidence provided by prosecutors was insufficient to justify the detention of Ko and ordered his
RSS