Yes. It’s here after almost a year in development. The new electronic RFID payment and coupon system hit McDonalds stores in Japan. McDonalds and NTT DoCoMo, the top telecommunications company in Japan proudly presented this new techgy to the public. The DoCoMo subscribers can now receive digital coupons on their cell phones by joining a program called Kazasu Kuupon (”no contact coupon”) but of course they need to download an application into their cellphones and register on McDonalds Japan’s mobile web site in order to enjoy such privilege. These virtual coupons can be redeemed by tapping the cellphone against the RFID reader in the McDonalds counters. The main purpose of this new technology is allowing the subscribers to choose their meals and pay them via their cell phones. Currently, only 175 McDonalds stores are installed and tested with this technology but a total of 3,800 stores are expected to apply such technology in 2009.

[via CrunchGear]

This post is tagged McDonalds, NTT DoCoMo, RFID