Will fast food giant retain Docomo's customers?

DoCoMo to Provide Electronic Payment Service at McDonald's Japan's largest mobile-phone operator, DoCoMo, will offer its "iD" service at McDonald's Japan Holdings restaurants, letting users pay for their meals by swiping their handset across terminals.

Masanori Goto, a spokesman for the company, said, DoCoMo and McDonald's Japan will invest 300 miliion yen ($2.5 million) to establish a company that promotes the service through e-mail advertisements. The service will be available from October and will include the "iD" credit payment system and "ToruCa" which allows users to store electronic coupons in their mobile phones. This payment system allows users to use their handsets like a credit card.

The iD electronic payment service commenced in December 2005, Docomo plans to prevent users from switching to rival mobile phone operators, through its innovative service. Docomo will own 30% of the shares and McDonalds will own the rest, as reported in a press conference in Tokyo.

Will Docomo's move on utilizing the fast food giants massive client base to market their services take off?