Mobile Payment Forum Announces Board Members - Cross-Section Of Industry Leaders Join Forces To Lead 100 Strong Organization
Wakefield, MA (ots)
The Mobile Payment Forum has announced five new board members following a doubling in the size of the organization's membership base since the beginning of the year. Created as a cross industry group to enable secure, user-friendly mobile payment transactions and to expand the global market for mobile (m) commerce, the Mobile Payment Forum has attracted organizations from the mobile, technology, and financial industries to its board of directors.
The new board includes representatives from Hutchison 3G, NTT DoCoMo, Oracle, Telecom Italia Mobile and Vodafone, as well as representatives from the founding members: American Express Company, JCB Co., Ltd., MasterCard International and Visa International. As board members, these organizations will lead the Mobile Payment Forum in its efforts to standardize the features and functions needed to deploy secure and convenient mobile commerce solutions.
"The Mobile Payment Forum combines the interests of the mobile communications industry and the financial services industry to address specific issues concerning secure mobile payments," said Simon Pugh, co-president of the Mobile Payment Forum. "This new board of directors will ably reflect the interests and concerns of both industries and ensure broad cross industry co-operation. The board will set the strategic direction that will guide the Forum's committees in developing technical specifications, requirement documents, white papers, and use cases."
Membership of the Mobile Payment Forum now stands at more than 100 global and regional organizations, including financial institutions, telecommunications operators, wireless device manufacturers, merchants, content providers, and software and hardware developers and vendors.
"Mobile commerce holds significant potential, but success hinges on the implementation of broadly-accepted standards for secure mobile payments," said Ed Kountz, senior analyst, Mobile Financial Strategies practice at TowerGroup. "No single organization can address all of the issues necessary to facilitate the widespread adoption of mobile commerce. Collectively, the efforts of the Mobile Payment Forum, along with other mobile industry standards initiatives, are creating an environment in which the potential for m-commerce can be realized."
As a member driven organization, the Mobile Payment Forum encourages members to submit activity proposals that address immediate and longer-term business needs for secure mobile payments, including cardholder authentication, device and transport security, and consumer convenience and usability. Membership is tiered, allowing interested parties to join as either Principal or Associate members. Any organization with an interest in facilitating secure m-commerce is eligible to join.
About the Mobile Payment Forum
The Mobile Payment Forum brings together leading organizations from the mobile and financial industries to create a foundation for standardized, secure and authenticated mobile payments. Founders American Express Company, JCB Co., Ltd., MasterCard International and Visa International all bring extensive experience in creating interoperable global payment standards and specifications and a knowledge of payments in emerging channels. Membership includes key financial institutions, telecommunications operators, wireless-device manufacturers, merchants, content providers and software and hardware developers and vendors. The Mobile Payment Forum is a non-profit membership organization, incorporated in the state of Delaware in the United States.
For further information, visit the Mobile Payment Forum Web site at www.mobilepaymentforum.org
INDUSTRY COMMENTS ON THE MOBILE PAYMENT FORUM
Hutchison 3G
"Hutchison 3G supports the drive to create common payment standards through the Mobile Payment Forum," said Colin Tucker, managing director of Hutchison 3G. "We are pleased to be working with other leading companies to drive acceptance and use of open standards throughout the industry. We believe committing to such standards will help realise the true potential of 3G services."
NTT DoCoMo
"NTT DoCoMo is aiming at realizing a mobile commerce environment that is safe and convenient for users, merchants and settlement banking agencies and that provides new business opportunities for each player," said Tatsuo Katayama, executive manager, Mobile Commerce Office, NTT DoCoMo, Inc. "We are very pleased to join this Forum with cross-industry members to offer a desirable mobile commerce environment."
Oracle
"The Mobile Payment Forum brings together a cross section of wireless and financial industry leaders to ensure the highest possible standards for secure mobile commerce and transactions," said Denise Lahey, senior vice president, Mobile Products & Services at Oracle. "Our goal is to establish best practices for m-commerce payment and security, while ensuring optimal user experience."
Telecom Italia Mobile
"Global standards for mobile payments can only be achieved through cross-industry co-operation," said Marco Patuano, vice-president, Finance & Credit Management at Telecom Italia Mobile. "The role of Mobile Payment Forum is a strategic one, creating a trusted environment between the mobile and financial industry and enabling each player to focus on its own core competencies in the delivery of secure mobile payment solutions."
Vodafone
"Vodafone is keen to be involved with the Mobile Payment Forum, as we believe that a set of common workable standards for m-commerce will need to be agreed with both the network operators and financial community alike," said Bruno Degiovanni, head of Product Management M-Commerce. "We hope that our greater involvement will help to generate these standards and place m-commerce firmly in the future of mobile services."
Contact:
Mobile Payment Forum
Margot Benoit
Media Inquiries
Phone +1/781/876-6299
mailto:pressoffice@mobilepaymentforum.org
Internet: http://www.mobilepaymentforum.org
Mobile Payment Forum
Denise Snyder
Media Inquiries
Phone +1/781/876-8840
mailto:membership@mobilepaymentforum.org
Internet: http://www.mobilepaymentforum.org
The Mobile Payment Forum
401 Edgewater Place
Suite 500
Wakefield, MA 01880
Phone +1/781/876-8840
Fax +1/781/224-1239