Apple to add Japan's 'My Number' ID card function to iPhone, Japan official says

FILE PHOTO: A women uses an iPhone mobile device as she passes a lighted Apple logo at the Apple store at Grand Central Terminal in New York City, U.S., April 14, 2023. REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo

TOKYO (Reuters) -Apple CEO Tim Cook agreed at the request of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to put Japan's "My Number" identification card functions onto iPhones, Japan's top government spokesperson said on Thursday.

The Japanese government plans to integrate people's tax and social security data into a single identification card to boost administrative efficiency.

The comment from Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi comes after Kishida's video conference earlier in the day with Cook.

"Prime Minister Kishida and Mr. Tim Cook confirmed that My Number card functions will be put on iPhones next spring," Hayashi told a regular news conference.

(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Gerry Doyle)