Tokyo, Japan - Sony Corporation today announced that cumulative shipments of its FeliCa contactless integrated circuit (IC) chips have reached 200 million units, as of March 2007. Sony commenced shipments of FeliCa IC cards in 1996, and has since shipped approximately 160 million chips for use in FeliCa-based cards such as "Suica" and "Edy", and over 40 million "Mobile FeilCa" IC chips used in "Osaifu-Keitai" mobile phones with electronic money functions.

• Cumulative Shipments of FeliCa IC Chips [PDF:57KB]

Sony achieved cumulative shipments of 100 million FeliCa units within approximately 10 years of launch. Since then, FeliCa shipments reached the 200 million unit mark in just 18 months. The immediate popularity of Osaifu-Keitai mobile phones (launched in summer 2004), and rapid expansion of services such as automatic payment for public transportation systems and electronic money settlement have made major contributions to this growth.

The range of applications for FeliCa continues to increase, with various service providers offering easy, convenient and secure FeliCa-based applications. These include payment for public transportation, electronic money, credit transactions, employee ID, membership cards and point cards --- all of which can be used simply by passing a card or mobile phone over a reader/writer. Going forward Sony will also seek to establish FeliCa within industries such as entertainment, dining and sports to extend FeliCa's unique brand of convenience and enjoyment among the widest possible user base.

Sample FeliCa card (right: transparent card displaying IC chip and antenna)

FeliCa Features

1. Flexible Application Architecture
   - Multiple applications by multiple service providers on a single card.
   (Each file has separate key and access rights.)
2. Fastest Transaction Speed (No.1 in Industry)
   - When a FeliCa card is passed over a reader writer (R/W), data processing (including secure encryption) is completed in approximately 0.1 seconds.
3. High Level of Security
   - Software security is provided by mutual authentication between card and reader/writer as well as encrypted communication data.
   - Hardware security is provided by anti-tamper technology
   - Sony is the world's first manufacturer to obtain an ISO/IEC 15408 (global standard for IT security) EAL4 rating for both an IC card and card OS. (The highest rating that can be obtained for a consumer product.) *FeliCa card model: RC-S860
4. The communication technology used in FeliCa has been approved under the International Standard ISO/IEC18092.

• Cumulative Worldwide Shipments of FeliCa IC Chips by Region [PDF:262KB]

Note:

• -FeliCa is a trademark of Sony Corporation
• -Suica is a trademark of East Japan Railway Co., Ltd
• -Edy is the brand name for a FeliCa-based prepaid electronic money service operated by bitWallet, Inc.
• -Osaifu-Keitai is a trademark of NTT DoCoMo, Inc.