Q24The spread of electronic money Edy pre-paid rechargeable contactless smart cards that can be used with mobile phones are a leading form of electronic money (e-money) in Japan. How many Edy cards had been issued by August 2007?
(a) 11.9 million
(b) 21.9 million
(c) 31.9 million
(d) 41.9 million

A24 According to bit Wallet, Inc., which manages the Edy cards, there were more than 31.9 million cards and Edy-enabled mobile phones in use in August 2007. The correct answer is (c). Started in November 2001, the Edy service spread rapidly and, by August
2007, could be used at 59,000 retail outlets including conve-nience stores, supermarkets, department stores and bookshops, and recorded a monthly total of some 19.5 million transactions.