NTT DoCoMo: Mobile Payment Powerhouse?

Dan Balaban reports for The Deal on NTT DoCoMo's contactless mobile wallet "i-mode FeliCa".

To date DoCoMo has lined up 20 service providers and counting for i-mode FeliCa, including e-ticketing schemes for the country's large Toho Cinemas chain and its two major passenger air carriers, Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways. JAL customers, for example, can wave their way onto the jet without needing a boarding pass.

"We see this [handset] as a fundamental device the people will have in the future," says Izuru Takaya, JAL's planning manager for product marketing and development.