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Trial Completion Press Release
Consumers
Give Two Thumbs Up to First North American Mobile Phone Payment
and Content Trial
Atlanta
Spirit, Chase, Cingular, Nokia, NXP, Visa USA and ViVOtech excited
by results of Near Field Communications trial, citing this is “just
the beginning”
Atlanta,
Sept. 6, 2006 – A group of industry-leading companies
today announced the completion of the first North American Near
Field Communication (NFC) trial for mobile phones, including contactless
payments and content downloads at Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.
During
the trial, which launched in Dec. 2005, 150 Atlanta Thrashers and
Atlanta Hawks season ticket holders with both a Chase-issued Visa
credit account and a Cingular Wireless account made payments at
contactless readers supplied by ViVOtech at concession stands throughout
the arena. Additionally, fans downloaded content to their Nokia
3220 mobile phones equipped with NXP’s NFC semiconductor chips,
and ViVOtech software, including ring tones, wallpapers, screensavers
and video clips of favorite players.
Following
the completion of the trial, pilot partners conducted focus groups
to capture the participants’ experience and gain feedback
to inform future trials and product development, as well as consumer
adoption of mobile applications. Key findings include:
- Trial
participants overwhelmingly embraced the technology and expressed
that the mobile device and applications significantly improved
their arena experience
-
Data usage increased during game days; trial participants used
their NFC-enabled mobile device more frequently to search for
and purchase digital content
-
Participants indicated that they would like to use their mobile
devices for payment at a variety of merchant locations, for any
purchase size, and see value in accessing multiple payment accounts
on their mobile devices in the future
-
Trial participants also expressed interest in having multiple
applications on a single mobile device, including transit, loyalty
and digital content applications
“The pilot in Atlanta exceeded our expectations and demonstrated
the value mobile payment and content can deliver to a sports and
entertainment venue”, said David Lee, vice president of
Business Development for the Atlanta Spirit, parent company of
the Atlanta Hawks, Atlanta Thrashers and Philips Arena. “The
pilot partners feel this is just the beginning of what we can
deliver to our fans and customers, and we are all committed to
exploring additional options for bringing NFC technology to the
mass market.”
The
contactless technology provided a faster and simpler payment option
at concession stands, allowing season ticket holders to get out
of the lines and back to the game more quickly. According to Visa
research, purchases made using contactless technology are up to
25 percent faster than those made with cash and trial participants
enjoyed the speed and convenience of not having to sign for their
purchases under $25.
The
trial demonstrated the importance of the evolving partnerships between
financial services and wireless technology companies to deliver
advanced mobile services to consumers. It was the first large-scale
test of next-generation mobile phone applications in North America,
and is the result of a collaboration between Chase (NYSE: JPM),
Cingular Wireless, Nokia, NXP, Visa USA and ViVOtech, along with
Atlanta Spirit, LLC, parent company of the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks,
NHL’s Atlanta Thrashers and Philips Arena.
About Atlanta Spirit:
Atlanta Spirit, LLC, is the parent company of the Atlanta Hawks,
Atlanta Thrashers and Philips Arena.
About
Chase:
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) is a leading global financial
services firm with assets of $1.3 trillion and operations in more
than 50 countries. The company has more than 100 million credit
cards issued. Under the JPMorgan, Chase and Bank One brands, the
firm serves millions of consumers in the United States and many
of the world’s most prominent corporate, institutional and
government clients. Information about the firm is available at www.jpmorganchase.com.
About
Cingular Wireless:
Cingular Wireless is the largest wireless carrier in the United
States, serving 57.3 million customers. Cingular, a joint venture
between AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) and BellSouth Corporation (NYSE:
BLS), has the largest digital voice and data network in the nation
– the ALLOVER™ network – and the largest mobile-to-mobile
community of any national wireless carrier. Cingular is a leader
in third generation wireless technology. Its 3G network is the first
widely available service in the world to use HSDPA (High Speed Downlink
Packet Access) technology. Cingular is the only U.S. wireless carrier
to offer Rollover®, the wireless plan that lets customers keep
their unused monthly minutes. Details of the company are available
at www.cingular.com.
About
Nokia:
Nokia is a world leader in mobile communications, driving the growth
and sustainability of the broader mobility industry. Nokia connects
people to each other and the information that matters to them with
easy-to-use and innovative products like mobile phones, devices
and solutions for imaging, games, media and businesses. Nokia provides
equipment, solutions and services for network operators and corporations.
About
NXP:
NXP is a top 10 semiconductor company founded by Philips more than
50 years ago. Headquartered in Europe, the company has 37,000 employees
working in 20 countries across the world. NXP creates semiconductors,
system solutions and software that deliver better sensory experiences
in mobile phones, personal media players, TVs, set-top boxes, identification
applications, cars and a wide range of other electronic devices.
News from NXP is located at www.NXP.com.
About
Visa USA:
Visa USA is the nation's leading payment brand and largest payment
system, enabling banks to provide their consumers and business customers
with a wide variety of payment alternatives tailored to meet their
evolving needs. Visa USA is committed to increasing the choice,
convenience, acceptance, and security of Visa payments for all stakeholders
in the payment system - Members, cardholders and merchants. Through
its 13,420 Member financial institutions, more than 510 million
Visa-branded cards have been issued to cardholders in the United
States. Last year, financial institutions relied on Visa's processing
system, VisaNet, to facilitate $2 trillion in transactions with
unparalleled reliability.
Worldwide,
cardholders in over 150 countries carry more than 1 billion Visa-branded
cards, accounting for more than $3 trillion in annual transaction
volume.
About
ViVOtech:
ViVOtech (www.vivotech.com) is the market leader in contactless/NFC
payment software, transaction management systems, and readers. These
innovative solutions allow consumers to make contactless payments
with radio frequency-enabled credit cards, debit cards, key fobs,
and NFC-enabled mobile phones. ViVOtech's products are used by some
of the most prominent retailers in the United States. Currently,
with more than 180,000 units in 18 countries, ViVOtech's products
are in use at movie theaters, fast food restaurants (QSR), casual
dining establishments, convenience stores, gas stations, drug stores,
grocery stores, buses, taxicabs and vending machine locations, enabling
a wide variety of businesses to accept contactless/NFC payments.
In 2005, ViVOtech received the prestigious Frost & Sullivan
technology award for its role in transforming the contactless payment
industry, as well as winning the first annual ETA Technology Innovation
Award. For the field pilot, ViVOtech provided payment software applications
for NFC mobile phones, and has enabled over 150 POS terminals at
Philips Arena with its contactless readers.
Company
PR Contacts:
Atlanta Spirit: Tom Hughes 404 878 3737: tom.Hughes@atlantaspirit.com
Chase: Jessica Iben: 302 282 6150: Jessica.E.Iben@chase.com
Cingular Wireless: Clay Owen: 404 236 6153: clay.owen@cingular.com
Nokia: Laurie Armstrong: 914 368 0423: laurie.armstrong@nokia.com
NXP: Rebecca Samuel: 408 474 8769: Rebecca.samuel@nxp.com
Visa USA: Elvira Swanson: 650 432 8352: elswanso@visa.com
ViVOtech: Heather Kelly, 719-634-8274, heather@sspr.com
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