Tokyo, 2016-Dec-13 — /EPR Retail News/ — Rakuten, Inc., and Rakuten Edy, Inc. today announced that the Rakuten Point Card shared point card service and Rakuten Edy e-money service have been made compatible with the Android Pay™ service, which will launch in Japan from December 13.
Android Pay™ is a digital wallet service provided by Google that can be installed from the Google Play Store. With the service, users can register e-money services, point cards and gift cards and utilize them in stores.
Rakuten Point Card is a service that allows users to earn Rakuten Super Points when paying at affiliated stores. Rakuten Super Points can be used on the Rakuten Group’s various services and in payments at affiliated stores. Rakuten Edy began offering an Android™ version of its Rakuten Edy app for Osaifu Keitai®-equipped Android™ from January 2011, and cumulatively, 100.9 million Rakuten Edy cards have been issued*1.
With Rakuten Point Card and Rakuten Edy now compatible with Android Pay™, users are now able to manage their points and e-money through the service. For Rakuten Edy, in addition to being able to pay with Android Pay™, users can also confirm their Edy balance and usage history, as well as set up Rakuten Super Points*2. As it is also possible for users to charge their Rakuten Edy card using a credit card registered on the user’s Google account*3 with Android Pay™, there is no need for the user to register new credit card information at the time of set up.
By making its services compatible with Android Pay™, the Rakuten Group will create opportunities for new users to make use of the Rakuten Edy and Rakuten Point Card services. Going forward, Rakuten will strive to expand and enhance its services in order to increase the level of user satisfaction.
*1 The cumulative number issued as of December 1. Includes Rakuten Edy-equipped cards and Osaifu Keitai®.
*2 Only compatible with Android™ devices which are compatible with Osaifu Keitai®.
*3 It is necessary to register the credit cards on a Google account in advance.
* Osaifu-Keitai® is the registered trademark of NTT DoCoMo, Inc.
* Android, Android Pay and Google Play are the trademarks or registered trademarks of Google Inc.
Source: Rakuten, Inc.