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"QUICPay" NTT DoCoMo's i-Mode Wireless Phones

20th July,2004

ASIA : JCB, the international payment brand, AEON Credit Service, the retail-affiliated credit card company, and NTT DoCoMo jointly announced that JCB and AEON have developed the QUICPay™ payment solution for cards with contactless IC chips. The QUICPay service is also compatible with NTT DoCoMo's smart-card handsets, which are capable of using i-mode® FeliCa® mobile wallet service. A trial project for the new QUICPay solution will begin this autumn.

Above shows the first four i-mode smart-card handsets— three 2G mova® 506iC series handsets and the 3G FOMA® F900iC handset which were launched in June 2004.

QUICPay ("Quick and Useful IC Payment") offers simple and speedy offline payment service. By simply applying for this service, part of the customer's existing credit limit is assigned to a specific contactless IC chip, which may be embedded in a plastic card, or incorporated in the customer's i-mode FeliCa service compatible mobile phone.

As the QUICPay amount is billed to the customer's existing credit card, the new application lets customers continue to enjoy their credit card loyalty point and mileage benefits. While users of prepaid cards must track the remaining value and take the time to reload it with cash, with QUICPay, they can increase the credit line amount during a payment transaction at any service supported store.

QUICPay's most prominent advantage is the significant reduction of throughput speed compared to the conventional cash payment, as transaction times of less than one second are standard for offline processing and no signature is needed. Consequently, QUICPay is better suited for specific merchants such as supermarkets and convenience stores alike where promptness is appreciated.

"JCB's goal is to increase user-friendliness and at the same time maintain healthy growth in the credit industry. We believe that QUICPay benefits not only consumers, but merchants and card companies as well," said Atsushi Gondo Executive Officer at JCB. "And even more exciting is the added entertainment value for customers who use QUICPay with their mobile phone - the visual and communication elements make this payment system fun as well as user-friendly."

In the future JCB and AEON plan to invite other credit card companies to participate in QUICPay in cooperation with NTT DoCoMo's i-mode FeliCa Service.

JCB was an early leader in the implementation of contactless payment systems, starting with a system for the Megaweb theme park in Odaiba offering visitors the choice of prepay or postpay by JCB card, while recent innovations have included participation in the preview of the i-mode FeliCa Service in March 2003, the e-METI JCB Business Card for employee purchases at METI canteens, and technological advances such as the DualPlus™ interface providing contact and contactless interface to a single chip. Contactless postpayment is also an integral part of JCB's Offica™ and Mobile Offica multifunction corporate solutions, currently in use by 10 companies within Japan.

AEON has been actively conducting a trial service for the business solution using contactless IC technology from February 2002 on their company site in Tokyo. The trial has been based around a multifunctional hybrid smart card, which can be used as a credit card, identification card, and prepaid card bearing contactless eletronic money "AEON Cash", where value can be reloaded from the credit card.

NTT DoCoMo's i-mode FeliCa service and the compatible handsets can be used for a variety of unprecedented functions, including rail pass, debit card (electronic money), credit card and personal identification card, applications previously possible only with IC-equipped cards.
The service and the handsets are among the latest examples of how NTT DoCoMo is expanding the scope of wireless culture, turning i-mode mobile phones into multifunctional tools for everyday life.

About AEON Credit Service Co., Ltd,
AEON Credit Service Co., Ltd. ("AEON Credit") is one of the leading credit card companies in Asia and is listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. (8570) By-issuing AEON Card and strategically co-branded credit cards such as the TOYS"R"US Card, it has built up a base of 12.1 million cardholders as of FY 2003. AEON Credit has grown rapidly since it first set up operations in Hong Kong in 1987, then later expanding into Thailand, Malaysia, Taiwan and Shenzhen, China.

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