Japanese iPhone 7 Plus ad ‘Race’ shows off newly launched Apple Pay feature

Apple has released a new iPhone 7 ad called “Race” made exclusively for Japan. The new 30-second spot features the Jet Black iPhone 7 Plus and a very fast-paced run between two men through a busy part of town. The ad concludes with the iPhone-equipped man winning the so-called race by using Apple Pay to quickly board a train…

Apple Pay only launched in Japan in late October of this year after first debuting in the United States and a few other countries two years ago. Bringing Apple’s mobile payment service required integrating FeliCa mobile payment technology which is widely used in the country.

FeliCa is a technology developed by Sony that allows users to store things like train cards, bus passes, store cards, and credit and debit cards on their mobile devices. The technology is the most widely used mobile payment platform in Japan with over 1.9 million payment terminal supporting it. Last year, FeliCa payment transactions totaled $46 billion in Japan.

Using Apple Pay in Japan requires special hardware because of this technology:

To use FeliCa, you not only need either an iPhone 7 or an Apple Watch Series 2, but it also needs to be a Japanese model: devices sold in the U.S. and elsewhere are not compatible. Locals will be able to use Apple Pay at any terminal supporting Suica, QUICPay, or iD.

You can view the Japanese iPhone ad below via Apple Japan on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9V2JxwSma8&t=0s&app=desktop

(H/T Michael Steeber)