Sony today announced that it has signed an agreement with Watchdata Technologies in bid to offer Near Field Communication (NFC) / Felica capabilities to Watchdata’s NFC product lineups. Under agreement terms, Watchdata will develop NFC / FeliCa technology into SIMpass NFC solutions with getting the support from Sony in 2013 while the agreement further allows both companies providing NFC functions to a wider range of mobile phone handsets.
What is SIMpass? The company explains:
SIMpass is a unique Watchdata solution that enables NFC functionality for mobile phones without hardware modification by adding an attached antenna to a secure SIM card. SIMpass-SC is a Watchdata solution that provides NFC functions where the antenna is embedded into the SIM form factor itself. There are currently over 6,000,000 SIMpass mobile payment users in East Asia.
Mario Manabe, Senior General Manager of the FeliCa Business Division, at Sony Corporation says:
The commercially proven security and performance of FeliCa is something we want to aggressively promote in the growing NFC ecosystem” commented Mario Manabe, Senior General Manager of the FeliCa Business Division, at Sony Corporation. “The agreement with Watchdata allows us to adapt FeliCa technologies to more handsets and expand global market presence.”
(Image Source: Sony logo, Featured Image)