Wallet phones, huh? Could such a contraption ever really fly? Well the folks that designed them seem to feel pretty sure of it. And after reading the article below, I think the possibility is certainly there that they will do very well.

Japan’s biggest mobile operator, NTT DoCoMo, is making coinless payments with computer chip-embedded “wallet phones” as easy as using a credit card.

The Tokyo-based mobile unit of Japan’s top telecommunications company, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp., is investing about $925 million to take a 34 percent stake in Sumitomo Mitsui Card Co., the credit card unit of a major Japanese bank, both sides said Wednesday.

Since the service began last year, Japanese using NTT DoCoMo’s “wallet phones” have climbed to some 3 million people.

The wallet feature, which uses Sony Corp.’s FeliCa IC chip technology, is just the latest for this gadget-loving nation’s fancy handsets, including digital cameras, portable TVs, e-mail and streaming video downloads. All you need to do to make payments with a wallet phone is swipe the handset next to a special terminal set up at stores, which have climbed to 20,000 shops nationwide. [Read the rest]