Category: Featured News

Sony will be launching FeliCa in Asia

Sony may become the next technology company to become involved in mobile payments. While Sony has no plans to compete with others in the smartphone market, it does have plans to launch its own mobile payments technology in Asia. The company is expected to launch this technology in the public transportation industry of Asia, allowing consumers to use their mobile devices to pay their transit fare. The system that Sony is working on is known as FeliCa.

Mobile payments are expanding throughout Asia

Mobile payments have become very popular in Asia, where many consumers are beginning to use their smartphones and tablets to purchase products and shop online. They are also using their devices to purchase products in physical stores that support mobile transactions. When it comes to public transportation, consumers are looking for more convenient ways to pay their fares, and they smartphones may be the best solution to this issue.

FeliCa will allow consumers to pay for public transit services

Sony will be rolling out FeliCa in Indonesia as early as next spring. Southeast Asia, in particular, holds a great deal of promise when it comes to mobile payments. The mobile networks of this region are expanding quickly and public transportation services are becoming more advanced. As this trend continues, more consumers are expected to become involved in mobile payments. Supporting mobile transactions may help Sony establish a strong position in the mobile commerce market.

Sony could leverage its experience in mobile payments to compete with other companies

While FeliCa will be the first mobile payments system launched by Sony, the company has actually been involved in mobile commerce for a decade. Chips that facilitate mobile transactions have been used in Hong Kong’s public transportation space, where consumers use this technology to pay for transit services. Sony intends to compete with companies like Apple and Samsung which have already launched their own mobile payments platforms. These two companies have already established a lead in the mobile commerce market, but Sony may be able to leverage its expertise and prove to be a challenge to both these companies.

The company founded by Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Twitter, is filing for an initial public offering of $275 million.

Mobile payments company, Square Inc., which was founded by Jack Dorsey, the CEO at Twitter, has now filed for a $275 million IPO, though it is likely that the figure – which is considered to be a placeholder – will change before anything official takes place.

Aside from being a co-founder of Square, Dorsey is also the CEO and is the largest shareholder.

At the time of the writing of this article, Dorsey was holding onto a 24.4 percent stake of the company. The next largest owner is Jim McKelvey, whose stake in the company is 9.4 percent. Underwriters of the IPO include JPMorgan, Goldman, Morgan Stanley, Jeffries, Deutsche, RBC, Stifel and Barclays. The Form S-1 filing by the company was made with the Securities and Exchange Commission, but it did not identify a specific share price for the mobile payments company, nor did it state how many of the shares would be made available for purchase.

The primary focus of Square mobile payments is small businesses who wish to process credit card payments.

As a component of the intentions of the company to go public, Dorsey intends to donate the proceeds of tens of millions of shares of the company to the Start Small Foundation, his own charity. This was included within the regulatory filing. It states and underscores the point within the filing that says “This may at times adversely affect his ability to devote time, attention and effort to Square.”

While holding the top spots at two tech giants could be problematic, Dorsey has expressed that he is willing to delegate some tasks to some of Twitter’s senior execs, such as Adam Bain, the company’s COO.

There have been claims that one of the reasons that Dorsey had previously lost his position as the head of Twitter was due to having spent too much of his time on “extracurricular activities,” which included a broad spectrum of personal activities including a sewing class. Still, during the first half of this year, Square was profitable, having drawn in more than $560.6 million in revenue during that time. Still, though, increased spending has caused it to suffer a loss of $77.6 million.