History of Mobile FeliCa

1988
  • Sony Corporation develops FeliCa.
1997
  • FeliCa cards are commercialized for the first time (“Octopus” by Octopus Cards Limited in Hong Kong).
2001
  • FeliCa cards are commercialized for the first time in Japan (“Suica” by East Japan Railway Company and “Edy” (currently “Rakuten Edy”) by bitwallet, Inc. (currently Rakuten Edy, Inc.).
2004
  • Establishment of FeliCa Networks, Inc.
  • NFC Forum, which promotes the implementation and standardization of Near Field Communication (NFC) technology and aims for the establishment interoperability between devices and services, is launched.
  • FeliCa becomes one of the ISO/IEC18092 standards for NFC.
  • NTT DoCoMo, Inc. releases the first “Osaifu-Keitai®” compatible mobile phone. The Mobile FeliCa services are launched by bitwallet, Inc.’s (currently Rakuten Edy, Inc.) “Edy” (currently “Rakuten Edy”) and other services.
  • Various companies launch membership cards and point services.
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2005
  • JCB Co., Ltd. launches “QUICPay”.
  • NTT DOCOMO, Inc. launches “iD”.
2006
  • East Japan Railway Company launches “Mobile Suica”.
2007
  • IY Card Service Co., Ltd. (currently Seven Card Service Co., Ltd.) launches e-money “nanaco” and Aeon Co., Ltd. launches e-money “WAON”, both compatible with Mobile FeliCa.
2009
  • FeliCa Networks joins GlobalPlatform®, a global standardization organization for secure components.
2010
  • Release of Osaifu-Keitai compatible Android mobile phones.
  • FeliCa Networks forms the e-Money Promotion Committee with six e-money providers.
2016
  • Apple Inc. launches “Apple Pay” in Japan.
  • “Mobile Suica”, “iD”, and “QUICPay” become available for “Apple Pay”.
  • Google LLC launches “Android Pay™” (currently “Google Pay™”) in Japan.
  • “Rakuten Edy” becomes available for “Android Pay” (currently “Google Pay”).
2017
  • “nanaco” becomes available for “Android Pay” (currently “Google Pay”).
2018
  • “WAON”, “Mobile Suica”, and “QUICPay” becomes available for “Google Pay”.
2019
  • Introduction of Mobile FeliCa platform compliant with GlobalPlatform.
  • “iD” becomes available for Google Pay.
2020
  • Pasmo Co., Ltd. launches “Mobile PASMO”, which works with Mobile FeliCa and “Apple Pay”.
  • Mobile FeliCa becomes compatible with payment service platforms for wearable devices which leads various companies to release wearable devices.
  • Hong Kong’s “Octopus” becomes available for “Apple Pay”.
2021
  • “nanaco” and “WAON” become available for “Apple Pay”.
2023
  • West Japan Railway Company launches “Mobile ICOCA”, which works with Mobile FeliCa and “Apple Pay”.