[harpratap]

Google/Apple pay are still not as seamless as something like Osaifu Keitai from Japan. Google/Apple are beholden to Visa & Mastercard and the banks issuing the correct kind of cards. Japan's Osaifu Keitai tech stack + business model completely gets rid of these old institutions.

One example is Visa Japan has some ongoing fallout with Apple and JR East, so you cannot use your Visa credit card to top up your Suica transit card with Apple pay, but it works fine on Android with Google pay. Lot of merchants get confused between NFC/Apple Pay/Google Pay/Visa Pay and so many spin offs of something that's essentially just NFC A-B mode of payment.

With Osaifu Keitai you just choose one provider - Passmo, Suica etc and just top up money in any form you want - cash, credit card, debit card, points etc. And it just works. No internet, no middlemen and sub millisecond latency which is very crucial transit payments.

[ZeikJT]

Last time I was visiting Japan my friends with Apple phones were able to add their physical cards to their phones and then top up their suica/pasmo cards digitally but I had Android and it was impossible.

[rnotaro]

It's available on Android since March. ^_^

https://www.pasmo.co.jp/mp/and/

[lmz]

That's a stored value card. Which does work in a limited context (Japan). You can't use it internationally, unlike contactless EMV.

[harpratap]

There's nothing technically stopping it from being used in other countries though, Hong Kong has implemented the same system with same level of success as Japan.

> You can't use it internationally, unlike contactless EMV.

Technically it's incorrect. Visa/Mastercard works internationally, I have a RuPay card from India and it didn't work internationally until recently. So it depends on the reciprocal agreement between networks - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Card_reciprocal_agreements

[lmz]

Yes HK has its own stored value card, but you can't use Octopus in Japan, can you?

Also I'm sure you'd agree it's easier to trust something issued internationally if there was some element of online verification to it (admittedly probably not much of an issue for transit applications).

[harpratap]

This is where Apple and Google step in, you can load Octopus pay on your phone and start using it like a local. Apple even notifies you about Suica as soon as you land in Japan.