1. Using A Wallet Phone (source NNT DoCoMo)

According to a report issued by eMarketer, mobility for the Japanese means keitai (a mobile phone). They strive to incorporate every conceivable function into their phones from online purchasing to barcode readers to GPSes to analog TV tuners. If there's the slightest chance it can happen on a mobile phone, someone in Japan is thinking about how to make it happen.

One of the hottest new functions allows people to use their phones like ATM cards to pay on-site for goods and services. It's called osaifu keitai or wallet phone. Sixteen percent of those interviewed by the NPD Group in Japan in February of this year said they were already waving their keitai over in-store point-of-sale stations to make ePayments in Japan's heavily cash oriented economy.

Sony Erricsson is on the osaifu keitai bandwagon.

The Japanese have great respect for physical space. They have always been in the forefront of the small is beautiful movement. Many live in very small apartments. Small cars are preferred by most Japanese. Sony, Canon, Nikon, Samsung and other high tech manufacturers place a high value on producing small computers, cameras, smart phones and, of course, plain old mobile phones.

So, it's not surprising that the Japanese want to stuff as much into their tiny mobile phones as possible. It's also not surprising that almost 58 percent of the respondents to a March 2006 poll in Japan by Japanese telcom carrier NTT DoCoMo said they would use their mobile phones as ePayment wallets if the capability was readily available. Seventy-two percent of those surveyed thought that phone wallets would completely replace regular wallets some time in the next 50 years.

Currently NTT DoCoMo is the leader in bringing osaifu keitai services to customers. In addition to standard wallet phone capabilities, the company's mobile phones support what it calls "ToruCa," allowing easy downloading into the phones of yen-off coupons and advertisements.

Phone wallet functionality is supported by a tiny chip in the mobile phone that holds financial balances. The same chip could hold insurance and other data now stored on separate cards in a wallet. ePayment chips might also enable such things as phone-based airline, movie and amusement park tickets, as well as electronic keys to unlock doors at home and work.

If the Japanese have their way, as they have in the past, they will drag the rest of us happily or kicking and screaming into a world where we really can throw away our wallets, after saving or disposing of the contents of course.

And that raises an interesting issue. Few things are quite as traumatizing as losing your wallet. Osaifu keitai will have to provide excellent off-line backup capabilities and tight security so not just anyone who finds them can go on a buying spree. That shouldn't be difficult, but I want to be absolutely sure about the safety and security of any mobile phone system I'm considering before entering into the world of electronic wallets.

Check out the next page for some cool wallet phone set up and application graphics.

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