3 ms·
What ended up happening is that actually universal payment systems like credit cards (Visa, MasterCard, AMEX, and JCB) and digital wallets (PayPay, Alipay, Appl
by Dalewyn 2y ago
What ended up happening is that actually universal payment systems like credit cards (Visa, MasterCard, AMEX, and JCB) and digital wallets (PayPay, Alipay, Apple Pay, Google Pay) were ultimately successful in carving up the formerly cash-dominated pie, forcing SUICA and ICOCA to open themselves up to broader interoperability including beyond just JR offerings.
Also, note that JCB is the only Japanese one of those universal payment systems. All the others are either American or Asian ex-Japan (PayPay which is South Korean, Alipay which is Chinese).
- numpad0 2y agoThat's a strange timeline. Suica transit and payment started in 2001, flip phone integration in 2004, Android in 2010. PASMO-Suica interop started in 2007, expanding to 10 cards across regions in 2013. Apple Pay with NFC launched in 2016, iPhone 7 with FeliCa launched in 2016, PayPay was 2018. Those all came after success of Suica and its slowly expanded mutual interoperations. JCB is also a card brand, not a payment system. System is more like payment networks like CARDNET.
- dcrazy 2y agoJCB has its own payment network in Japan. In other countries they piggy back off AmEx or Discover/Novus.