Apple's fight to lure Japanese from cash starts at the turnstile

Tokyo

APPLE Inc's plan to allow Japanese customers to use iPhones to pay for their daily commute underscores the potential for digital payments to grow in a nation where people still prefer to hold cash.

Japanese have for years been using rail passes that double as electronic money cards, which a growing number of retailers now accept for payments. Yet people have tended to restrict e-money purchases to small items, and Japan trails countries including South Korea and Singapore for digital settlements as banknotes remain widespread.