However, people need only one such card, onto which they keep charging money via ticket vending machines, and thus the market becomes saturated quickly.
Mofiria has found itself in a similar situation. It has to come up with a new business model in order to keep generating revenue.
Meanwhile, being a small company is advantageous because it can operate with a much smaller revenue, and it is not buried within the workings of a large company, as is the technology for developing FeliCa.
Many original technologies are undoubtedly buried within large electronics firms, and spinning them off as independent units would not only benefit the market but also boost the economy, observers say.
The letter “M” in Mofiria comes from “mobile.”
Amagai says he is now looking for a partner to install vein authentication systems in mobile devices, something he has thought about since his time at Sony.
Probably in the near future, a smartphone will effectively contain detailed personal information about its owner.
This section, which will appear every second and fourth Monday, features translated stories on hot national topics from the monthly magazine Wedge. The original article was published in the October issue.
Translated by The Japan Times
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