e platform (as well as other operators' own data communications platforms). Japanese operators' mobile telecommunications sys- tems of the early 2000s offered many features such as browsing capability and access to an application market place, and the mobile phones are considered as forerunners of smart phones such as iPhone. It was natural for Docomo to consider incorporating Sony's FeliCa platform within i-Mode. The phones could then be used in public transportation as well as micropayment. The advantages for the users were the security of the device (a passcode could be set for payment acceptance) and integration as a single device could be used for both tele- phony and as an electronic wallet. There were also a number of benefits for the operators in developing the mobile FeliCa market. The inclusion of a payment system in a mobile would improve customer acquisition and retention. A bigger advantage was entrance into the credit and payment market, where an operator could collect a commission on all such sales. The operators considered their business to gradually move from being a tele- communications company to a financial institution. One such move was Docomo's credit card brand iD. Mobile FeliCa was a great success and by December 2007 there were 47 million subscribers with FeliCa enabled handsets (more than 50% market penetration). As for the iD credit card, Docomo had 17 million credit card customers as of October 2012, who could use their cards in 560 000 merchants in Japan and, in association with Mastercard paypass, in more than 41 other countries [19,20,21,23]. Case Study Questions How did the success of Suica help the roll out of the FeliCa platform? Why was Docomo interested in FeliCa? What are the values it brings? FeliCa spent $200 million to subsidise the installation of FeliCa readers by small merchants. Why? What is the revenue model for FeliCa networks? Despite a number of attempts, the FeliCa platform was not successful outside Japan. Visible Light Communications Infrared light emitting diode