TORONTO, March 3, 2010 – Canadians will soon be able to leave their wallets at home thanks to a wireless payment sticker trial launched by EnStream LP, Canada’s leading mobile commerce company. The Zoompass Tag ^TM is a wireless payment device designed in the form of a sticker that can be attached to a mobile phone. The Zoompass Tag ushers in the future of mobile payments by allowing consumers to tap their phones at checkout to make purchases at retail stores.

In 2009, EnStream launched the revolutionary Zoompass™ mobile application and began offering Canadians the first version of a mobile wallet. Available at www.zoompass.com and accessible on most mobile phones in Canada, Zoompass already allows users to send money quickly and securely to friends and family.

“The new Zoompass Tag goes even further by allowing Canadians to make their regular store purchases quickly and securely, using only their mobile phone.” said Robin Dua, President of EnStream LP. “All Zoompass users will soon be able to pay for their morning coffee, gas at the pump, and lunch at a fast-food restaurant with a quick tap of their mobile phone.”

By tapping a mobile phone with the Zoompass Tag on a contactless reader at the point-of-sale, payment is automatically drawn from the user’s Zoompass stored value account. Contactless payments remove the need for coins and cash, plus time spent waiting in lines and digging for change. Canadians can look forward to having exact change ready via their mobile phones whenever they need it.

Customer’s financial information is stored on secure servers, not on the mobile phone, so even if the phone is lost or stolen, the customer’s Zoompass account remains secure. Together, the Zoompass Tag and Zoompass application allow consumers to monitor their purchase transactions in real-time.

“Every transaction is logged in the Zoompass application and can be instantly seen on the mobile phone. This is very handy to track purchases and budgets in real-time,” added Dua.

The sleek and appealing sticker measures 43 mm by 33 mm and can be easily affixed to any mobile phone.

“This is the most advanced wireless payment sticker available in the Canadian market today. Our Convego® Air Mobile sticker is the only sticker of its kind with a flexible body and a unique shuttle distribution method. It is the only sticker being trialed by the leading Canadian wireless carriers for use on their mobile phones”, said Kim Madore, VP Emerging Technology and Market Development for Giesecke & Devrient, producer of the Zoompass Tag.

The Zoompass Tag can be used at most contactless payment ready locations. Leading retail merchants such as Tim Hortons, McDonalds, Petro Canada and Loblaws will accept payment through the Zoompass Tag as these merchants are rapidly adopting contactless payment terminals in an effort to offer convenience to consumers and save costs.

The trial is offered to select Zoompass clients and is expected to last up to 3 months. The pilot will allow EnStream to evaluate many aspects of the mobile payment experience and shape the way Canadians pay for goods and services in the future.

It is appealing... but it is the same thing as my Starbucks or Timothy's card. I load them and then I use these when purchasing my coffee.

Key to this announcement is the following phrase: "payment is automatically drawn from the user's Zoompass stored value account."

I want it to take the money out of my bank account directly... The problem with this method is that I have to maintain yet another account. I want integration... not fragmentation!

The little sticker is not as appealing to me as the press release makes it sound: "...sleek and appealing sticker measures 43mm by 33mm and can be easily fixed to any mobile phone."

I know this is a step forward, but it seems too much like a step backwards.

Nevertheless progress is progress...

Remember - this is a carrier lead initiative. To be honest with you I am waiting for the banks. I have a feeling they can do a better job at it.

Integration... not fragmentation!

Visualize this: A woman is pushing a loaded grocery cart through the frozen-food aisle when she gets a mobile phone alert. Her checking account balance has dropped to $100. Uh-oh, the food will be well over that amount.

But wait. Up pops a clickable ad, offering her the chance to sign up - right now - for overdraft protection.

That might be a marketing no-brainer, but it's still wishful thinking in mobile banking. "Banks are starting to ask for this capability," said Drew Sievers, co-founder and CEO of mFoundry, a Larkspur, Calif., technology firm that creates software for mobile banking and mobile payments. "But security risks are a big concern."

Sievers says current mobile marketing strategies have great potential for helping banks gain a greater share of customers' wallets. For one thing, financial services firms can partner with other businesses that want access to their customers, as Visa has done with Starbucks. A mobile gift card application that mFoundry created for Starbucks features a Visa advertisement. Those who use their mobile devices to reload Starbucks cards get an extra $5 added, if they pay with a Visa card.

Mark Schwanhausser, a senior analyst with Javelin Strategy & Research in Pleasanton, Calif., likes this type of partnership strategy. "Banks have incredible insights into how individual consumers spend their money," he says, "and they sit in a spot where they can play an instrumental role in directing coupons, offers, rewards and other savings to consumers."

Sievers says banks also should be looking to drive traffic to their own products and services by connecting with mobile users. Someone seeking real estate information on Zillow.com is a prime candidate for a bank's mobile mortgage ad, for example. "The banking industry has only barely begun to tap into this potential," he says.

Banks' mobile opportunities are different from those of other industries. A bank is unlikely to add new customers via a mobile ad, but it can grow revenue from existing customers, and this is what Schwanhausser predicts will blossom this year.

After all, connecting advertising to the deep demographic and financial information banks already have on customers is powerful marketing, he says.

Couple of issues here with respects to privacy and security... please Mr. Banker don't share my name with any of your 'partners.'

However as I have been telling some of my clients for a while now... the entire mobile banking landscape will succeed only through partnerships. Banks partnering with other service providers... (but to what extreme? And at what cost to the customer?).

A very important partnership is the one between those that provide services to the banks... Enterprise software providers, mobile app developers, system integrators - the best way to break in and go deep in mobile with a bank will be based on your partnerships with others. This is especially true for startups in the mobile space - go out and seek partnerships with providers who already have entrenched relationships with the big banks.