The Prepaid Press - November 15, 2007 - (Page 15)

WIRELESS November 15 · 2007 - 15 Verizon Selects Firethorn Mobile Banking App to be Pre-Loaded BASKING RIDGE, NJ and ATLANTA, GA (October 15, 2007) Mobile banking and payments enabler Firethorn Holdings, LLC and Verizon Wireless have partnered to provide Verizon Wireless customers with the ability to interact with their ﬁnancial institutions using Firethorn’s mobile ﬁnancial services application. The relationship provides an opportunity for ﬁnancial institutions assessing their mobile strategies. With Verizon Wireless’ mobile banking offering, powered by Firethorn, customers will be able to access and manage their ﬁnancial relationships while on-the-go. In addition, Verizon Wireless and Firethorn will team with ﬁnancial institution partners to conduct marketing and consumer education programs aimed at aiding and encouraging adoption. Verizon senior vice president of consumer products Jim Straight said, “After carefully researching the marketplace and surveying consumer preferences, we concluded Firethorn will provide a secure, easy-to-use and ﬂexible mobile banking solution that will deliver a superior user experience for our customers. We expect these mobile banking services will be valuable to our customers, paving the way for us to introduce more comprehensive payment capabilities.” As ﬁnancial institutions join the Firethorn Network that already includes Wachovia, SunTrust Bank, Regions Financial, BancorpSouth, Synovus among others, Verizon Wireless customers will be able to access these relationships in a simple and secure fashion. Verizon Wireless plans to pre-load the Firethorn application on devices in the future. “Firethorn’s larger vision is to provide consumers with a safe, secure and consistent access point to their ﬁnancial information through their everpresent mobile device,” explained Firethorn chairman and chief executive ofﬁcer Tripp Rackley. “Viewing balances, making transfers and paying bills is the ﬁrst step. Bringing new and exciting functionality to the mobile handset, such as the ability to view and redeem loyalty points, reload gift cards and perform purchases at the point of sale, including contactless payments, is core to our mobile ﬁnancial services strategy.” Source: Verizon Wireless (www.verizonwireless.com) Firethorn (www.ﬁrethornmobile.com) Sprint Expands ‘’Unlimited by Boost’’ 10 Additional States added to Wal-Mart OVERLAND PARK, KS (October 22, 2007) Sprint has expanded the availability of Unlimited by Boost – the regional ﬂat rate wireless service offered by its Boost Mobile division – to 10 additional U.S. states, based on the success of its launch in California and Texas. Unlimited by Boost offers unlimited local and nationwide long distance calling from a home calling area for a ﬁxed monthly price, which ranges from $45 to $55 depending on location. Customers making or receiving calls outside of their home calling area are charged 15 cents per minute. Unlimited by Boost is now available from participating wireless dealers in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas. Starting in November, the ﬂat rate service will be offered at 938 Wal-Mart stores in all 12 states. Unlimited is now sold at participating RadioShack retail store locations in California and Texas, and will include locations in the expansion states starting Nov. 5. “Our trial of Unlimited by Boost has been well received by value-seeking wireless customers,” said Mark Angelino, president of sales & distribution for Sprint. “With the expansion of additional markets and distribution outlets, we are pleased to make the service available to a much wider audience.” For a limited time, Boost is offering the ﬁrst month of Unlimited service free of charge with purchase of a new phone, including the Motorola c290 and W385 phones, and with activation of a new account. The suggested retail price for the c290 is $99.99 and $129.99 for the iVisionMobile Launches Messaging Platform Offers Way to Create Mass Mobile Marketing Campaigns LOS ANGELES, CA (October 16, 2007) iVisionMobile, a provider of interactive SMS and Premium SMS technology, has launched a new software platform for creating interactive mobile marketing campaigns in-house. With iVisionMobile’s web-based tool, marketers can now create campaigns in minutes with no hefty set-up or provisioning fees. iVisionMobile’s iMessenger is a user-friendly, web-based platform for the creation of standard and premium-rate mobile campaigns such as text-to-win, text-to-vote, text-to-screen, content distribution and mobile alerts. Campaign setup is performed in three steps and can be activated immediately. In addition, the iMessenger solution offers “Interactive Replies” that the company says maximizes consumer and brand interaction. “As a new player in the mobile marketing space, we have been overwhelmed by the positive feedback from our customers. They consistently tell us they like the ease and immediacy of use, the interactive replies feature and the low-cost of the solution. In fact, some of our customers have realized cost-savings as high as 90% by switching to our solution,” says Omer Samiri, CEO and Co-founder of iVisionMobile. iVisionMobile has recently added customers such as the Houston Rockets and Genutec Business Solutions to their expanding list of clients. “We started using iVisionMobile because of their comprehensive web-based tools and lowcost mobile marketing solution,” says George Waterstraat, Database Manager, Seattle Supersonics. “The tool is simple and we can easily both design and personalize our mobile marketing efforts and implement them immediately. Our fans love that we can communicate directly with them at sports events in real-time.” Source: iVisionMobile (www.ivisionmobile.com) Motorola W385. Starting Nov. 12, Boost Mobile will offer a wireless Web price plan that includes unlimited voice, unlimited text, unlimited picture messaging and unlimited Web browsing for as low as $55 per month depending on market. Boost said its ﬂat rate plan includes voicemail, caller ID, call waiting and 3-way calling. Unlimited can be paid by automatic monthly payments by registering a credit card online. Monthly payments will automatically be deducted on the customer’s monthly anniversary date. Customers can also purchase Unlimited by Boost rechargeable cards to replenish their accounts at participating 7-Eleven stores. Source: Sprint (www.sprint.com) Boost Mobile (www.boostmobile.com) Regnum® CONSULTING • • • • Stored Value Cards Prepaid Phone Cards VoIP- IXC & CLEC Projects MVNO & Wireless Projects COMPLIANCE • 499A & 499Q Filings • Bill Analysis & Disputes: USF, TRS, NANPA, LNP & FCC Charges • Payphone DAC: Compliance & Audits • Prepaid Phone Cards • Stored Value Cards • Telecom Taxes & Fees • VoIP Compliance FCC 214 - $150 plus costs IXC & CLEC Certifications Money Transfer Licenses Satellite & Wireless Licenses I LOVE trade shows! REGNUM GROUP, INC., MIAMI, FLORIDA Tel: 305.468.1645 · Fax: 305.468.8509 E-mail: info@regnumgroup.com www.regnumgroup.com Flat Fee with order of IXC or CLEC License. (Non-dominant carriers only) http://www.verizonwireless.com http://www.firethornmobile.com http://www.sprint.com http://www.boostmobile.com http://www.regnumgroup.com http://www.ivisionmobile.com http://www.regnumgroup.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of The Prepaid Press - November 15, 2007

The Prepaid Press - November 15, 2007 Online Wireless Recharge It's a Wrap for Gift Cards Contents GENERAL PREPAID Prepaid 101: Merchandising Regulatory Rundown: Wireless Broadband, LNP, Internet Taxes, and Stored Value Legislation Guest Editorial: Honest Minutes: "The Times They Are A-Changing" 5 Minutes With Daniel Neal, CEO of kajeet The Legal Line Prepaid Wireless Roundup WIRELESS Wireless in Brief 011 Mobile Launches Mobile International Dialing Hop-on Adds GSM Phone to Product Line Virgin Mobile USA Launches New Services kajeet Adds to Handset Line MarketStar Publishes Mobile Phone Usage Study Nokia and Cellfire Team Up Verizon Selects Firethorn iVisionMobile Launches Messaging Platform Sprint Expands "Unlimited by Boost" INTERNATIONAL Spot Rates NOMAD Brings MasterCard EMS to Europe R&M Finds Potential in Africa International in Brief TELECOM & TECHNOLOGY Caveat Emptor When Negotiating IP Licensing T&T in Brief MySpace and Skype Ink Deal Octastic Announces New Media Gateway DSP Pactolus Selected by Global Crossing Tadiran Announces New Loyalty Incentive Program Oblio Telecom Launches New Prepaid Products Total Call Enhances Prepaid Calling Cards PAYMENTS A Gift Card Technology Guide Pinnacle and PaySpot Roll Out POS/Prepaid Solution TIO Networks Announces Membership Program TransFund$ Partners with TruckersB2B AMR Finds Retailers Returning to Main Street Payments in Brief Diebold to Offer Prepaid Gift Card Technology InComm to Sell nFinanSe Discover Cards iVisionMobile Offers Retailers Mobile Payments i2c to Offer Stored Value Webinars Mobilians Starts U.S. Mobile Payments Operation NetSpend Increases Savings Program Interest EXTRAS Classifieds Contact Us Our Advertisers

The Prepaid Press - November 15, 2007

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