Wallet phone catching on in Japan

TOKYO — As it is, you don't leave home without it. In a world of cashless payment, why not simply make your cell phone a wallet?

Japan has long been phasing out the hassle of coins and bills with microchip-laden "smart cards," which let people make electronic payments for everything from lunch to the daily commute.

But even smart cards could be on their way out, their plastic presence overtaken by virtual-wallet technology now available in the everyday cell phone.

Other nations, led by South Korea, already have so-called mobile commerce payment schemes in place that let people punch keys on their cell phones so that the devices trigger transactions.

But a series of phones going on sale this summer in Japan, for use on NTT DoCoMo's wireless network, are the world's first with an embedded computer chip that you can fill up with electronic cash.

The wireless company loaned me a P506iC handset from Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. and I was in business. Well, almost.

First I had to find a machine that's used to stoke smart cards with cash. They can be found in some convenience stores and offices in Japan. You place the phone in a special slot and slip bills into the machine. The phones have a 50,000-yen ($450) limit.

Now you can spend.

To pay you simply wave your cell phone within a few inches of a special display found in stores, restaurants and vending machines around Japan. A fairy-like tinkling sound means your purchase is being deducted from the embedded chip using radio-frequency ID technology.

It's instantaneous.

Unlike infrared or other mobile payment schemes that require clicks on the handset, you don't even need to open your clamshell-shaped phone, the style of choice here.

It's rather fun to pay for things this way.

It's also an idea that makes sense, given that almost every Japanese has a cell phone and relies on it so much that being stranded in the street without one almost causes panic. There are 81.5 million cell phones in this nation of 127 million people.

For the wallet phone tech to really take off, stores, theaters and restaurants that accept electronic payments need to become more widespread. They total around 9,000 in Japan so far, and the number is quickly growing.