Pre-2012 Edy logo

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 financing primarily from Sony, in addition to then other companies, including NTT Docomo and the Sumitomo Group.[1]

NTT Docomo's i-mode mobile payment service Osaifu-Keitai, which launched on 10 July 2004, included support for BitWallet's Edy. In 2005, over a million payments had been made with the service.[2]

On 18 April 2006, Intel announced a five billion yen (approx. US$45 million, or 35 million euros as of May 20, 2006) investment in bitWallet,[3] aimed at furthering its usage on computers.[4]

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.[5]

Mobile phones

Edy can be used on Osaifu-Keitai featured cellphones. Makers of these phones include major cell phone carriers such as docomo, au and SoftBank. 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.

PaSoRi reader/writer used for Edy

References

  1. ↑ Oshima, Kazuchika (2006). "我が国における電子マネーカード発行スキームの展望 -Edy・Suica におけるクレジットカード発行スキームからの考察-" [Vision of Electronic Money Card Distribution Plans in Japan: Discussion of the Edy and Suica Credit Card Distribution Plans] (PDF). 日本大学大学院総合社会情報研究科紀要 [The Bulletin of the Graduate School of Social and Cultural Studies Nihon University : Nihon University GSSC journal]. Nihon University (7): 55–65.
  2. ↑ Tsuda, Hiromu (2 August 2005). "ビットワレット、おサイフケータイのEdyが100万台達成" [Bitwallet, Osaifu reach 1 million payments with Edy]. ケータイ Watch. Impress Watch.
  3. ↑ Nedzu, Tadashi (18 April 2006). "「どこでもコンテンツを買いやすく」，米Intel社が電子マネー「Edy」のビットワレットに投資" ["Making payment easy everywhere" - Intel investing in Edy's Bitwallet]. Nikkei xTech. Nikkei Business Publications.
  4. ↑ Yoshioka, Ayano (26 April 2006). "インテルの出資でPCに進出するEdy" [Edy expanding into PC markets with Intel investment]. IT Media.
  5. ↑ "「ビットワレット」が「楽天Edy」に社名変更……Edyロゴマークも変更に" [BitWallet becomes Rakuten Edy, changes logo]. RBB Today (Press release). 1 February 2012.
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