Visa showcases mobile payments, money transfer, payment services at 2009 Mobile World Congress

London and San Francisco, Feb. 13, 2009 -- Visa Europe and Visa Inc. (NYSE: V - News), the world's largest retail electronic payments network1, will be showcasing the latest innovations in payments at the 2009 GSMA Mobile World Congress. In addition, Visa executives will discuss how Visa is helping to drive the convergence of financial services and mobile technology.

Visa will use real life examples to demonstrate how its innovations in mobile payment technologies can enhance consumers’ daily lives, providing speed, convenience, security and choice.

Visa mobile product demonstrations will include:

• Visa Mobile on Android: In December, Visa launched the first commercial service in the U.S. that provides mobile offers, transaction alerts and a locator service. Visa Mobile is available on mobile devices powered by Android, including the T-Mobile G1™ phone.
• Mobile Visa payWave: Secure mobile point of sale payments using Visa payWave embedded in a mobile device. Visa will demonstrate both NFC-based and SIM-based contactless payments.
• Mobile Money Transfer: A demonstration of handset-to-handset and online-to-handset money transfer.
• Mobile Transaction Alerts: Near real-time notification of card purchase activity delivered to the mobile device.
• Mobile Offers: Targeted offers and coupons delivered directly to the mobile device and redeemed at near-by merchants.
• Mobile Merchant: Convenient cashless transactions on the move. Mobile merchants, such as a pizza delivery service, can accept Visa payments with the help of enhanced mobile handsets that double as a mobile acceptance device.
• Smart Poster: Co-branded mobile posters, signposting nearby coffee shops with the offer of exclusive mobile ‘buy one, get one free’ offers.

The Congress is the key global conference and exhibition for the mobile industry and is sponsored by the GSM Association (GSMA). It attracts more than 1,200 exhibitors, and more than 50,000 visitors including key Visa clients and vendors from around the world.

Visa executive speakers at the Mobile World Congress 2009 include:

• Kelly Alpert, Head of Money Transfer Initiative, Visa Inc.
• Mary Carol Harris, Head of Mobile, Visa Europe
• Guido Mangiagalli, VP, Visa payWave and Mobile, Visa Europe
• Pam Zuercher, Senior Business Leader, Product Innovation, Visa Inc.

Source: Company press release.

GSMA calls for NFC as standard feature on mobile handsets

The GSMA - an international trade group of mobile operators - is calling for full near field communication (NFC) functionality to be built into handsets from mid-2009, in a bid to drive the uptake of contactless payments.

To drive development, the Association says it is backing the European Telecommunications Standards Institute's 'Single Wire Protocol' to standardize the interface between SIM cards and embedded NFC chips within handsets.

Rob Conway, CEO, GSMA, says: "We are committed to ensuring that mobile payment services are delivered as efficiently and cost effectively as possible. But this will require device manufacturers to make sure that the vast majority of commercially available handsets incorporate the Single Wire Protocol and Near Field Communications features as standard."

The GSMA's Pay-Buy-Mobile initiative has already seen trials get underway across eight countries - including Australia, Korea and the US - involving nine mobile operators, with further pilots planned in another 14 countries by 15 operators.

The Association says the positive results of several recent mobile payments trials demonstrate growing consumer demand.

An m-payments pilot launched by a consortium of French banks, telcos and technology vendors last year recently reported customer satisfaction rates of above 90%.

In London a similar trial that allowed people to use their mobile phones to pay for tube journeys and make small value purchases was also hailed as a success, with nine out of ten participants happy using NFC technology on a handset and 78% interested in using contactless services if available.

Mung-Ki Woo, VP, payment and contactless, Orange, says the operator has now run successful trials in France, Spain and the UK.  "For Orange, mass deployment is now mainly dependent on handset manufacturers providing a large range of adequate handsets," says Woo.

Hampshire, UK, Oct. 21, 2008 -- New research has forecast that over 400 million mobile subscribers worldwide will use their mobile phones for ticketing by 2013. However, the study concluded that trials and pilots are not being implemented into full mobile ticketing services as quickly as expected for several reasons including bar code reading issues, lack of reader infrastructure and availability of NFC (Near Field Communications) handsets.

The Juniper Research report found that the leading sector will be transport, followed by entertainment and then sporting events. The Far East and China region is leading the market, driven by adoption in Japan particularly amongst rail travellers. In addition airlines are beginning to offer mobile ticket purchasing. Outside the transport segment, the report identified a number of ground-breaking trials and services, such as by cinema chains in India which buys 37% of all movie tickets sold worldwide. In addition a number of football and baseball teams are beginning to offer mobile options for ticket purchase and delivery; however, many venues still require a printed ticket to gain entry.

Juniper report author Howard Wilcox pointed out: “Mobile ticketing offers exciting new opportunities for ticket issuers to achieve increased sales including targeted last-minute sales campaigns. For example, tickets for the sporting event or movie happening ‘tomorrow’ or ‘tonight’ could be marketed directly to known fans.”

However, Wilcox warned that whilst NFC mobile user trial results such as O2 in London and BART in San Francisco have been encouraging, market traction will be determined by the availability of NFC phones and the speed of installation of NFC readers.

Juniper Research determines the current status and prospects of mobile ticketing with analysis and interviews with some of the leading organisations in the growing mobile ticketing market.

Key findings from the report include:

• Total gross mobile ticketing transaction value will reach $92 billion by 2013.
• The Far East & China region, together with Western Europe and North America will represent in excess of 80% of this global gross transaction value by 2013.
• Mobile ticketing must “make life easier” for users. In this respect, NFC, with its convenience, is a crucial development.
• NFC will reach its tipping point over the 2011 to 2013 period.

White papers and further details of the study 'Mobile Ticketing: Transport, Sport, Entertainment & Events 2008-2013' can be freely downloaded from http://www.juniperresearch.com/ . Alternatively please contact John Levett at john.levett@juniperresearch.com, telephone +44(0)1256 830002.

Juniper Research provides research and analytical services to the global hi-tech communications sector, providing consultancy, analyst reports and industry commentary.

Source: Company press release.

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