IDA Showcase Mobile NFC Through ViVOtech’s Technology

Demonstrating Mobile Apps at CommunicAsia 2011
for Rich In-Store Mobile Commerce Shopping Experience

SINGAPORE – June 21, 2011 – ViVOtech, the near field communication (NFC) software and systems company, today announced that ViVOtech were recently awarded a contract by Infocomm Development Authority (IDA), Singapore to develop and implement a showcase for rich mobile NFC services.

The demonstration will showcase the future of mobile NFC services which would greatly improve customers’ shopping experience at supermarkets and retail stores. This showcase would also leverage existing IDA’s Digital Concierge (DC) enablers and services such as taxi booking and remote payment services.

IDA will showcase its NFC demonstration at imbX, the 6th annual Infocomm Media Business Exchange to be held here June 21 through 24. imbX is Asia's largest infocomm and media business event, in conjunction with CommunicAsia 2011, BroadcastAsia 2011 and EnterpriseIT 2011. The event serves as a networking venue for business leaders, government officials and industry professionals, as well as a popular platform for companies to showcase their latest innovations and solutions.

One of the IDA’s NFC demonstrations called Smart Shopping will showcase an application that lets shoppers tap their iPhone equipped with an iCarte NFC sleeve on products’ price tags to instantly see on the phone screen the items’ details, buyer reviews, and any special offers or discounts. The customer can then add items to an electronic mobile shopping cart, and have them delivered to their home on a specified schedule. This fuss-free shopping experience will bring convenience for busy professionals, managers, executives and businessmen.

IDA’s Smart Shopping app also allows the shopper to select a card from their phone’s digital wallet to pay for the purchases, by tapping the phone on the ViVOtech reader integrated into the cash register. The shopping cart details, payment card, delivery address and dates are then processed, and a receipt is displayed with relevant loyalty points and discount coupons generated from ViVOtech's coupon application.  The application also features a convenient taxi-booking feature to pick the shopper up at their current location.

The other app of the IDA showcase called Social Shopping, allows customers to virtually try on clothing and convert window shoppers into actual purchases leveraging social media platforms such as Facebook.

The Social Shopping app lets shoppers virtually try on clothing and post pictures of themselves wearing the selected clothing onto their Facebook wall to seek their friends’ comments.  Friends can “Like” or write comments, which are immediately pushed back to the iPhone app allowing he shopper to make a quick decision.

At the point of sale, the customer can pay for their items by tapping their phone on the ViVOtech's VP5000 NFC reader or leveraging DC’s remote mobile payment within the Social Shopping application. A customer for instance could send the shopping list from the shop to their parent – who could remotely pay for the items with their phone.  Once the payment is approved, the merchant receives a notification and receipt, and the shopper can pick up the items and go.

The showcase will also feature IDA’s drive to support the usage of business analytics in Singapore. At the demonstration, interactive dashboards on tablet displaying real-time information such as product and shopping trends, customer behaviour and demographics, as well as Facebook penetration figures. This provides merchants and managers a snapshot of the performance of their outlets and assists them to confidently make quick business decisions whenever necessary based on tools such as historical data and predictive data analysis.

“Singapore’s government is one of the most forward thinking in the world when it comes to utilizing new technologies like NFC for goodness of consumers,” said ViVOtech CEO, Michael (Mick) Mullagh.. “IDA folks are true innovators and visionaries and ViVOtech is honored to develop IDA’s rich mobile NFC showcase.”

About ViVOtech
ViVOtech, the near field communication (NFC) software and systems company, enables rich mobile commerce solutions for in-store payment, loyalty, marketing, and merchandising. Merchant, payment, mobile, web and advertising companies use ViVOtech solutions to enhance customer experience and grow their business.  ViVOtech’s NFC software and systems are the broadest, most tested and deployed worldwide. Founded in 2001, Silicon Valley-based ViVOtech provides the key building blocks of the NFC ecosystem: smart applications for enhancing the customer experience, wallet and trusted service manager (TSM) software, and point of sale systems. ViVOtech’s investors include Alloy Ventures, Citigroup, Draper Fisher Jurveston, First Data Corporation, Motorola Ventures, Nokia Growth Partners, NCR, and Sprint.  Join the NFC revolution at http://www.ViVOtech.com.

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Media Inquires:
Greg Spector
greg.spector@gmail.com
415-717-4666