Edy, provided by Rakuten, Inc. in Japan is a prepaid rechargeable contactless smart card. While the name derives from euro, dollar, and yen, it works with yen only.

History

Edy was launched on January 18, 2001 by BitWallet, with fincaning primarily from

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professiona ...

, in addition to then other companies, including NTT Docomo and the

Sumitomo Group The is one of the largest Japanese ''keiretsu'', or business groups, founded by Masatomo Sumitomo (1585-1652) around 1615 during the early Edo period. History The Sumitomo Group traces its roots to a bookshop in Kyoto founded circa 1615 by Ma ...

. NTT Docomo's

i-mode NTT DoCoMo's i-mode is a mobile internet (distinct from wireless internet) service popular in Japan. Unlike Wireless Application Protocols, i-mode encompasses a wider variety of internet standards, including web access, e-mail, and the pa ...

mobile payment service

Osaifu-Keitai , literally "Wallet Mobile", is the ''de facto'' standard mobile payment system in Japan. Osaifu-Keitai services include electronic money, identity card, loyalty card, fare collection of public transits (including railways, buses, and airplanes ...

, which launched on 10 July 2004, included support for BitWallet's Edy. In 2005, over a million payments had been made with the service. On 18 April 2006,

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...

announced a five billion yen (approx. 45 million USD, or 35 million euros as of May 20, 2006) investment in bitWallet, aimed at futhering its usage on computers. On 1 June 2012, Rakuten acquired Edy, changing the official name to RakutenEdy and the parent company from bitWallet to RakutenEdy Inc. The three-oval blue-tone logo was changed to the Rakuten logo and the font of the word 'Edy' was altered.

Mobile phones

Edy can be used on

featured cellphones. Makers of these phones include major cell phone carriers such as docomo, au and

SoftBank is a Japanese multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo which focuses on investment management. The Group primarily invests in companies operating in technology, energy, and financial sectors. It also runs the Vi ...

. The phones can be used physically like an Edy card, and online Edy features can be accessed from the phones as well, such as the ability to charge an Edy account. Sony PaSoRi RC-S320

References

External links

Edy official homepage
{{Japanese smartcards Japanese brands E-commerce in Japan online payments Contactless smart cards