Korea/Japan Week: NTT DoCoMo shows off mobile payments with Grab-a-Mushroom game and Coke vending machine

I bloody love fairground grabber machines, I do. Even when they’re rigged so you’ve got zero hope of ever actually hoisting a soft toy out. And I like this one, which can be found at Japanese mobile operator NTT DoCoMo’s showroom in Tokyo, even more.

Why? Partly because I won, and partly because it’s an example of NTT DoCoMo’s use of near-field communication to let you pay for stuff by pressing your mobile phone against a sensor, with not a coin in sight. Check the video over the jump to see how it works, and to see the same technology being used in, surprise surprise, a vending machine.

Meanwhile, NTT DoCoMo was also showing off a vending machine dispensing Coke at the touch of a handset. Check that video out below:

Tech Digest Korea/Japan Week posts
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Day Two roundup