Visa CEO Sees Collaboration with Wireless Industry as Key to Unlocking Potential of Mobile Payments
CTIA Keynote Address Unveils Key Wireless Partnerships and Investments
Mobile payment is at a critical moment in its development, and realizing its full potential will require close collaboration between the wireless and payment card industries, Visa USA President and CEO John Philip Coghlan said in a keynote address at the CTIA Wireless conference.
"Given the striking similarities in the paths our two industries have traveled, it is only natural we have arrived at a moment of convergence," Coghlan said. "In fact, the convergence of payments and mobile communications is not just logical - it is inevitable."
Taking the stage in Orlando in front of several thousand attendees, Coghlan detailed the steps Visa is taking to advance mobile payments, such as the recently announced Visa mobile platform. Visa's mobile platform is a set of mobile services and enabling technologies that serve as flexible building blocks for the development of mobile payment solutions by the financial services and mobile telecommunications industries.
Coghlan stressed Visa's commitment to partner with wireless and financial industry leaders enabled by the Visa mobile platform. He underscored this message by announcing a number of strategic alliances and partnerships:
dotMobi - Visa announced a strategic investment in dotMobi, a consortium of wireless industry leaders that is pioneering the use of the ".mobi" domain address and is enabling the integration of enhanced mobile commerce into the mobile consumer Internet experience.
Ecrio - Visa announced a strategic alliance and investment in Ecrio, a leading provider of software for mobile phones on 3G networks; Ecrio enables the redemption of barcode-enabled coupons and tickets from mobile devices at existing point of sale (POS) systems
VeriSign - A leading provider of digital infrastructure, VeriSign today announced it will support the Visa mobile platform. As part of the agreement, Visa will use VeriSign's content delivery services to provide mobile offer management capabilities.
Qualcomm - Visa is working with Qualcomm, a leading developer of advanced wireless technologies and data solutions, to help bring CDMA and WCDMA platforms to market that include NFC, and support the Visa mobile platform.
Kyocera Wireless - The innovative handset manufacturer has agreed to support the Visa mobile platform and will showcase the platform on CDMA-based phones that include NFC at the CTIA event.
"Visa is committed to working with technology leaders, large and small, that together can unlock the enormous value inherent in our respective networks," Coghlan said. "Our strategic investments and partnerships underscore our commitment to laying the foundation for secure and ubiquitous electronic payment on mobile devices."
During his presentation, Coghlan released the results of a Visa survey[1] that looked at consumer attitudes toward mobile payment. Highlights included:
Fifty-seven percent of those surveyed expressed interest in getting a phone with a payment application when shown what a payment-enabled phone might look like.[2]
Nearly 90 percent of those who were interested in mobile payment said they would pay extra for a phone with this feature.
Sixty-four percent of consumers in the survey aged 18-42 said they would consider switching mobile carriers from one that does not offer mobile payment capabilities to one that does, assuming they could keep their phone number.
Fifty-eight percent of the same age group said they would consider switching financial institutions to gain access to mobile payment services.
By a ratio of five to one, consumers would prefer mobile purchases to pass through a credit or debit card network and appear on their card statement instead of appearing on their wireless bill.
"These numbers show me that younger consumers want the best of both worlds -- they want the freedom and functionality of a mobile phone with the security, convenience and ease of use of their debit or credit card," Coghlan said.
About Visa USA
Visa USA is a leading payment brand and the nation's 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 13,382 member financial institutions, more than 510 million Visa-branded cards have been issued to cardholders in the United States.
Worldwide, cardholders in more than 150 countries carry more than 1 billion Visa-branded cards, accounting for more than $3 trillion in annual transaction volume in 2006. VisaNet, Visa's global processing system and the world's largest financial network, processes transactions with unparalleled reliability
, these damn mobis 
