Press Releases 2010

Launch of NFC Field Trials with Android™ Smart Phones
Making Smart Payments on Smart Phones a Reality

SOFTBANK MOBILE Corp.
Orient Corporation
Credit Saison Co., Ltd.
Gemalto
Kyodo Printing Co., Ltd.
MasterCard Worldwide
HTC Corporation
Trusted Logic S.A.

Tokyo, Japan (December 8, 2010)---A cross-industry group of eight IT and financial services companies today announced plans to launch trials in Japan of new contactless mobile payment services in mid-January 2011. The trials will leverage SIM-based near-field-communication (NFC) technology in smart phones powered by the Android™ 2.2 operating system for contactless mobile payment services compliant with ISO-certified standards.

The eight companies c participating in this pilot program include SOFTBANK MOBILE Corp., Orient Corporation, Credit Saison Co., Ltd., Gemalto, Kyodo Printing Co., Ltd., MasterCard Worldwide, HTC Corporation and Trusted Logic S.A.

The companies expect the trial to pave the way for increasingly convenient and satisfactory global-standard NFC services and solutions in Japan.

This pilot complies with the GSMA's “Pay-Buy-Mobile” requirements based on Single Wire Protocol (SWP) technology. Each smart phone will come with a USIM card equipped with NFC technology and an IC chip. Users will wirelessly download credit card information and application software, which they will store on the phone's chip for contactless mobile payments by simply waving the phone over a point-of-sale terminal reader at a store.

Android-based apps, one for each card, will be easy to use and manage. Selecting an app will be as simple as pulling out a credit card from a wallet or purse.

The trial will leverage MasterCard® PayPass™, a contactless payment system that complies with international standards. The two participating credit card companies, Credit Saison Co., Ltd. and Orient Corporation, will offer credit card applications that trial participants can download onto their mobile phones to make contact-less payments at merchants that accept MasterCard® PayPass™.

For details about the field trial, please see the attachment.

SIM-based NFC Payment Field Trial

Trial period

Approximately 3 months, from mid-January 2011.

Test participants

Limited to employees of participant companies

The roles of each participant company

Company Roles
SOFTBANK MOBILE Mobile NFC-related server system (“Trusted Service Manager”)
Android™ applications for users
Android™ smartphones and NFC-enabled USIM cards
Orient Corporation Mobile NFC-related server system (TSM)
PayPass™ application
Issuance and acquisition of PayPass™
Credit Saison Co., Ltd. Mobile NFC-related server system (TSM)
PayPass™ application
Issuance of PayPass™
Gemalto Technical support to develop NFC solution and conduct field trial, including TSMs for mobile operators and mobile service providers, and USIM cards
Kyodo Printing Co., Ltd. Data generation for personalization of PayPass™
Development of TSM interfaces for service providers
MasterCard Worldwide PayPass™ specifications, based on international standards for contactless IC payments
HTC Corporation Support to develop NFC Open API for HTC smartphones running Android™ 2.2
Trusted Logic S.A. Support to develop embedded protocol stacks handling NFC

System architecture

System architecture

Handset and user applications

The handset model to be used in the trial is the HTC Desire SoftBank X06HTII, SOFTBANK MOBILE's HTC handset equipped with Android™ 2.2, and NFC APIs. Android™ application software will be made available to handle credit card data downloaded onto NFC-enabled USIM cards. The apps will provide the necessary functions to use and manage credit cards.

USIM cards and server environment

Gemalto's Trusted Service Manager (TSM), an NFC solution, supports credit card apps for contactless mobile payments. To communicate with the server, the USIM card has an NFC antenna that complies with the Single Wire Protocol (SWP) standard. Necessary tasks and transmissions are handled online via over-the-air (OTA) communication, including creation of a secured area (security domain) on the USIM's IC, downloading credit card apps and data, and personalization of such apps.

Credit card companies and merchants

Orient Corporation and Credit Saison Co., Ltd. provide credit card apps for PayPass™, MasterCard Worldwide's contactless IC payment solution based on world standards. Handsets loaded with this these apps will be used for NFC payments at merchants that belong to Orient Corporation's MasterCard® PayPass™ service network in Japan or the global MasterCard® PayPass™ service network.

Generation of credit card data

To personalize credit card apps, credit card data will be generated by an EMV data processing system provided by Kyodo Printing Co., Ltd. The company is an authorized provider of MasterCard® PayPass™.


  • *Android™ is the trademark or registered trademark of Google Inc.
  • *FeliCa is the contactless IC card technology developed by Sony Corporation.
  • *Felica is the registered trademark of Sony Corporation.
  • *NFC (Near Field Communication) is proximity communication technology operating at 13.56 MHz, which is an internationally accredited standard of ISO (International Organization for Standardization). The NFC standard includes “FeliCa,” which is mainly used in the Japanese mass-transit system, and ISO14443 Type A and Type B, which are widely implemented throughout Japan and other countries in governmental systems such as basic resident registration cards and driver's licenses.
  • *MasterCard® PayPass™ is a contactless IC payment solution developed by MasterCard for use in payments at fast food restaurants and drugstores where quick payment transactions are critical. Over 83 million PayPass™ cards had been issued worldwide and more that 265,000 merchants were accepting PayPass™ cards as of October 2010. MasterCard PayPass™ has been field tested and launched in 36 countries, including Japan, the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, China, South Korea and Taiwan.
  • *Single Wire Protocol (SWP) is a specification of interface between NFC controller and USIM card, which is standardized under ETSI.
  • *Trusted Service Manager (TSM) is a secure server system for NFC that is used to manage services and service-related user data.
  • The information is true and accurate at the time of publication.
    Price, specification, contact and other information of products and service may be subjected to change. The information contains certain forward-looking statements that are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements.