RFID on a Watch
JCB to pilot contactless payment wrist-watches
Monday June 21, 2004
The international credit card issuer, JCB Co. Ltd., has launched a two month site trial of its new wrist-watch based Offica corporate solution for access control in Tokyo, in conjunction with Casio Computer Co. Ltd., using contactless chips from Sony.
The Offica Watch, made in cooperation with Casio, contains employee identification, access control, and cashless payment features. Twenty-five of JCB's employees are to use the Offica Watch instead of the current Offica card to access the JCB tower in central Tokyo, to make purchases at company restaurants and stores, and to carry out a variety of administrative functions. This article is copyright 2004 UsingRFID.com.
"This watch will improve convenience and user-friendliness for the users, as they don't have to take something out of their pocket or purse to open a door or pay for coffee," said Mr Yuichi Momose, executive vice president and general manager of strategic market development for JCB. "We think this has particular advantages in environments such as manufacturing plants or amusement parks where people should be hands-free and not have to carry a lot of things around."
JCB expects to launch the wrist-watch solution commercially early in 2005, following a detailed review of the two month live trial this year. The new system which incorporates contactless chip functions follows the recent successful trial of JCB's Mobile Offica mobile phone-based solution, which was created in cooperation with NTT DoCoMo early in 2004. Both Mobile Offica and the new Offica Watch use Sony's FeliCa contactless interface chip.
The corporate environment, with a limited range of equipment and infrastructure, allows for faster, easier implementation of chip-based information and payment technology in media such as Mobile Offica and Offica Watch. JCB says it will continue to develop solutions that provide functionality via the most suitable media, whether that happens to be plastic cards, mobile phones, key chains or PDAs.
The Offica solution offers a range of functions including access control, network authentication, employee identification, attendance tracking, and cashless purchasing through an office or corporate site. One difference between Offica and other prepaid applications is its post-pay function which can be linked directly to each employee's own JCB brand credit card.
More Info:
http://www.jcb-global.com/english
Source: JCB Co. Ltd.
News: JCB to pilot contactless payment wrist-watches - RFID (radio frequency identification), tracking technology, and RFID chipping daily news and information - free, unbiased news for the executive, technologist, developer, vendor, and potential or current user of RFID applications.
Posted by Craig at June 24, 2004 02:00 PM