Pay By Touch B.A.R.C.'s up the Right Tree

Last November and December, Pay By Touch "embarked" on a holiday marketing campaign in conjunction with the Greater Chicagoland Jewel Food Stores.

As mentioned in this blog previously, it was tabbed as the "Touch of Holiday Cheer" campaign including frequent appearances by quasi-celebrity, Paige Davis, but more importantly, also included a sizable check in the amount of $10,000 which was a donation to the Greater Chicago Food Depository. (Click to watch a YouTube video of Paige Davis presenting the check)

The company behind the campaign was B.A.R.C. Communications and pictured on this post are some samplings of what they put together for PBT...

From their website:

"B.A.R.C. was challenged to deliver an integrated communications program that would drive usage and enrollment while reinforcing the speed, ease and safety of the PBT service during the busiest shopping time of the year, November and December.

Since the opportunity was focused on a specific partner, the Jewel Osco supermarket chain in the Chicagoland area, B.A.R.C. was able to provide consistent, relevant and meaningful messages across a variety of media that would generate awareness and response in a cost effective manner.

The promotion consisted of a sweepstakes for a very desirable prize: a year’s worth of groceries. B.A.R.C. kicked off the campaign with a 60 second radio spot (click to listen) and included materials in-store at the Pay by Touch enrollment kiosk.

A 30 second TV spot (click to watch) was run on the PRN “check-out TV” network at the point of sale and there were communications especially designed for store employees. Direct mail was also part of the mix, sent to current and potential enrollees around various Jewel Osco store locations, informing them of the promotion.

B.A.R.C's recommendation for PR was embraced by Pay by Touch and a “touch of holiday cheer” came to life within the stores when PBT representatives, along with a local celebrity, randomly selected a shopper and paid for their purchase using the PBT service.

A charitable component (the $10k) was also added to the program and the Chicago press ate it up!

According to B.A.R.C representatives, "Overall, the campaign exceeded the clients’ expectations".

Saatchi & Saatchi, who also handles Walmart, General Mills, Procter and Gamble, Toyota, JC Penney and Novartis is Pay By Touch's "official" advertising agency of record.

Pay By Touch Chief Marketing Officer

Pay By Touch Names Customer Acquisition Expert to Chief Marketing Officer Role

Catherine Muriel Joins Biometric Industry Leader to Drive Consumer Adoption of Payment and Personalized Marketing Solutions

Last Update: 2:18 PM ET Jan 29, 2007 SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 29, 2007 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ --

Pay By Touch, the leader in biometric authentication, personalized marketing and payment solutions, today announced that it has appointed Catherine Muriel Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). In this new role, Ms. Muriel will oversee the company's marketing efforts and report to John Costello, President, Consumer and Retail.

Ms. Muriel brings more than 15 years of experience in strategic, analytic and retail consumer marketing, as well as an expertise in customer acquisition, to Pay By Touch.

She joins the biometric industry leader from E-LOAN, a consumer direct lender providing mortgage, home equity and auto loans, where she was CMO and helped build the company into a leading brand.

"We are very pleased to welcome Catherine to the senior management team at Pay By Touch," said John Costello, President, Consumer and Retail, Pay By Touch. "She brings proven marketing prowess as well as cutting-edge customer acquisition strategies to the company, and will be instrumental to our continued growth and success. We look forward to working with her to bring new convenience, security and savings to shoppers everywhere."

Prior to joining E-LOAN, Ms. Muriel served as Chief Marketing Officer of Upromise, the country's largest private college savings loyalty service. She also served in executive level positions at AXA Financial, Prudential Financial and Citigroup's credit card division. Ms. Muriel began her career with Lowe & Partners Advertising where her clients included Coca-Cola, Gillette, Nabisco and Citigroup. She holds a law degree from The London School of Economics.

"I am extremely pleased to be joining Pay By Touch at this pivotal time in the company's history," said Catherine Muriel, Chief Marketing Officer, Pay By Touch. "We have a unique and unprecedented opportunity to bring new value, ease and simplicity to people's everyday lives. "

Caroline McNally, Pay By Touch's Executive Vice President of Brand Strategy, continues to report to Mr. Costello, leading the strategic development and stewardship of the global corporate and consumer brand along with managing the company's branding agency relationships.

About Pay By Touch

Pay By Touch ( http://www.paybytouch.com/) is wowing the world one touch at a time as the global leader in biometric authentication, personalized marketing and payment solutions. To date, patented Pay By Touch(TM) biometric services enable 3.5 million shoppers to quickly and securely access personal accounts using a finger scan to identify themselves, make purchases and cash checks at 3,000 locations nationwide. The company also provides robust payment processing solutions for ACH (electronic checking), card-present and card-not-present debit and credit transactions for retail clients. Founded in 2002 and headquartered in San Francisco, Pay By Touch employs 800 professionals and holds more than 50 patents worldwide on secure, convenient and cost-effective transaction solutions.

SOURCE Pay By Touch Kelly Moser of Porter Novelli for Pay By Touch, +1-415-975-3330, Kelly.Moser@porternovelli.com http://www.paybytouch.com/ Copyright (C) 2007 PR Newswire. All rights reserved

Nationwide Dealer Network to Resell Pay By Touch

PLANO, Texas & SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 25, 2007 (BUSINESS WIRE) --

StoreNext Retail Technologies LLC and Pay By Touch have signed an agreement under which the two companies will market and distribute Pay By Touch's biometric authentication and payment service to independent grocers.

The joint solution minimizes grocers' transaction costs while allowing shoppers to pay for purchases with the simple touch of a finger.

Under the agreement, StoreNext, through its nationwide dealer network, will resell the Pay By Touch store-level hardware, software and interfaces to independent retailers in conjunction with StoreNext point-of-sale (POS) systems. StoreNext dealers also will provide ongoing service and support for the systems. Data and transactions from the independents' POS systems are processed through StoreNext's Connected Services suite of Internet-based store management applications, further lowering independents' networking costs.

"Independent grocers need ways to lower payment transaction costs while giving shoppers faster and more convenient service.

Pay By Touch makes low-cost biometric payment easy for shoppers while providing outstanding security," said Ray Carlin, president and CEO of StoreNext. "This agreement makes this state-of-the-art biometric technology accessible to regional chains and independents".

Pay By Touch makes the checkout process faster, more convenient and more secure by eliminating the need for shoppers to present cards, checks or cash at the point of sale. When checking out, shoppers simply touch a biometric sensor and enter a Personal Search number to authenticate their identity and link to their financial and loyalty accounts. Pay By Touch also provides merchants with a quick, precise way to verify age. Of course, they have also derived a lot of attention with the recent Aite Group Report citing the impressive impact of SmartShop.

"With StoreNext's installed base nearing 10,000 systems, our agreement becomes a watershed event for the industry," said John Rogers, founder, chairman, and CEO of Pay By Touch. "Together, we are empowering independent retailers to integrate, implement and merchandise secure, biometric payment options for consumers - a clear competitive advantage."

"The ever-increasing cost of card-based payments puts smaller grocers among the greatest beneficiaries of our services. Pay By Touch and StoreNext with Connected Services provide quick checkout, shopper convenience, dramatically lower costs and reduced fraud all at once."

StoreNext will market Pay By Touch as a complete plug-and-play solution, which includes StoreNext's ISS45 or ScanMaster POS system and the WinEPS electronic payments system. The MTXEPS, Inc. WinEPS system is the core payment engine used by many major retailers and independents throughout North America.

About Pay By Touch
Pay By Touch ( www.paybytouch.com) is wowing the world one touch at a time as the global leader in biometric authentication, personalized marketing and payment solutions. To date, the company's patented biometric services enable 3.5 million shoppers to quickly and securely access personal accounts using a finger scan to identify themselves, make purchases, earn rewards and cash checks at 3,000 locations nationwide. It also provides robust payment processing solutions for ACH (electronic checking), card-present and card-not-present debit and credit transactions for retail clients. Founded in 2002 and headquartered in San Francisco, Pay By Touch employs 800 professionals and holds more than 50 patents worldwide on secure, convenient and cost-effective transaction solutions.

About StoreNext
StoreNext Retail Technologies LLC is the No. 1 supplier of retail technology to independent grocers and regional chains. Based in Plano, Texas, StoreNext is a joint venture of Retalix Ltd. (RTLX :
retalix ltd ord
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RTLX 19.27, -0.07, -0.4%) and Fujitsu Transaction Solutions Inc. markets Fujitsu POS hardware, Retalix's ISS45 and ScanMaster POS software, Retalix Store and Retalix HQ, as well as Internet Connected Services for managing stores via Web-enabled applications. StoreNext is the IT company that's dedicated to meeting the needs of this wholesaler-served market with packaged solutions that were previously available, affordable or practical only for large chains. Web site: www.storenext.com.

For sales and product information call (972) 265-4800.

SOURCE: StoreNext Retail Technologies LLC

A Case Study on PBT's SmartShop

Biometric Payments and Rewards: A Case Study

Aite Group provides an in-depth review of the deployment of Pay By Touch technology at a grocery store named Green Hills. Nine months after the introduction of Pay By Touch's SmartShop loyalty and payment solution, 25% of Green Hills' sales are made via biometric payments, and 28% of those are processed over the Automated Clearing House (ACH) network.

Boston, MA, January 23, 2007 – In a new report, Biometric Payments and Rewards: A Case Study, Aite Group discusses the roll-out of Pay By Touch technology at Green Hills, a one-store grocery that is headquartered in Syracuse, NY.

"Given the economic context in Syracuse, NY, Green Hills' pre-existing high average sales per square foot, the sophistication of the previous loyalty program, and the store's stagnant top-line sales in the years leading up to SmartShop's roll-out, the impact of SmartShop on Green Hills' financial performance is impressive," comments Gwenn Bézard, a Research Director with Aite Group and the author of the case study.

In the United States today, beyond two-tier pricing schemes (e.g., grocery stores) and loyalty programs that are tied to private-label credit cards or dual cards (e.g., specialty retailers), most retailers lack sophisticated loyalty programs.

The development of private- label merchant debit/prepaid payment and reward programs is a significant trend that has the potential to reverse that situation, as illustrated by Green Hills' story.

This 8-page Impact Note contains 3 figures. Clients of Aite Group's Retail Banking can download the report by clicking here.

Bears Indy Superbowl!

Grossman comes through in biggest game

By RICK GANO, AP Sports WriterJanuary 22, 2007

CHICAGO (AP) -- As a jubilant Rex Grossman celebrated the biggest win of his life, he found time to share an embrace with the man who stood behind him all season. Coach Lovie Smith wouldn't budge. He stuck with his often-criticized young quarterback -- despite some erratic performances and loud cries for a change.

"I just kind of hugged him and told him I loved him," Smith said after the Bears earned their first trip to the Super Bowl in 21 years by beating the New Orleans Saints 39-14. "I just knew what he had been through this year and it was only fitting that he got a chance to celebrate like that."

Grossman was so happy Sunday after kneeling to run out the clock in the closing seconds of Sunday's victory that he heaved a ball into the stands. He called his exchange with Smith a special moment, as well.

"I know what he's been through, all the things that he's changed in our program and everyone has bought into it and really executed the way he's wanted," Grossman said. "It's just fun to see good people like that accomplish great things."

When the Bears won in their only other Super Bowl appearance in 1986, beating the Patriots 46-10, they featured a quirky quarterback named Jim McMahon. Grossman was 5 years old at the time.

Now the Bears are finally going back, this time to play Peyton Manning and the Colts. They've been talking about reaching the Super Bowl since offseason workouts last spring.

"We've got one more win before we can call ourselves world champions," Grossman said. Grossman's numbers -- 11 of 26 for 144 yards -- certainly weren't great Sunday. That's not what mattered, though, on a snowy day at Soldier Field.

Grossman was just 3-for-12 for 37 yards at the half and the Bears twice settled for field goals after getting inside the New Orleans' 10. A couple throws were dropped, a couple off-target. "I was a little conservative in the first half," Grossman said. "I didn't want to make a mistake. ... We missed a few plays and wished we had touchdowns."

But when Chicago's running game momentarily bogged down in the second half and the game got tight, Grossman stepped up with pinpoint passes.
He completed four throws in a row, three of them to speedy Bernard Berrian during a quick five-play, 85-yard drive.

Grossman lofted a pass into the snowflakes and the ball fell into the arms of a tumbling Berrian, who beat Fred Thomas for a 33-yard TD early in the fourth quarter. That made it 25-14, and the Bears were on their way.

"We felt like we could get behind him all game and then he covered it pretty well. Bernard just saw the ball in the air and made a great play. That was huge for our momentum at that point," Grossman said.

After struggling in the regular-season finale against Green Bay -- his quarterback rating was 0.0 and he admitted he wasn't as prepared as he should have been -- Grossman came back last week in the playoff opener against Seattle and threw for 282 yards.

"I told him numerous times, 'Don't worry what's being said on the outside. You know what you can do. I know what you can do. People in that locker room know what you can do. Listen to the people in this locker room, listen to us,"' offensive coordinator Ron Turner said.

Grossman sat out most of his rookie season after he was drafted in the first round from Florida. He was injured for most of the next two years with a torn knee ligament and broken ankle. In his first three seasons, he also had to work with three different offensive coordinators.

During long hours of rehabilitation to overcome his injuries, Grossman said he never gave up on leading the Bears to the Super Bowl. Grossman is 17-6 as a regular-season starter and now 2-1 in the playoffs.

"When we asked him to do it, he has," star linebacker Brian Urlacher said. "I don't know what his career record, I don't care what his stats are, he's a winner." Grossman managed the game, let the running game featuring Thomas Jones and Cedric Benson and the Bears' defense control the tempo. He threw when needed and most importantly to Chicago, he avoided the mistakes that have hurt him this season.

"I'm really excited for coach Smith and Rex Grossman -- I mean, the things he's had to go through," Jones said. "We've overcome a lot of doubters, but we're here, we made it and it's definitely a great feeling."

Retailers Tap Into Biometrics

Some executives say that payment technology, known as biometrics, will start to become more commonplace in the retail industry this year.


At a seminar held Wednesday at the National Retail Federation's annual convention, Green Hills Supermarket CEO Gary Hawkins and his son, Sterling Hawkins, vice president of retail industry consulting firm Hawkins Strategic, discussed how biometrics can help personalized marketing.

Do you clip coupons? If so, you're in the minority. Fewer than 1% of coupons ever get redeemed, according to coupon-processing firm CMS. With this unique new personaized marketing program, a supermarket customer logs online, browses special offers created specifically for them based on past purchases, creates a shopping list and then goes to the supermarket where he or she can print out the list. Once the consumer is finished shopping, they can pay via a machine that reads their fingerprint and accesses their stored information, eliminating the need for a credit card or cash.

"It's personalizing shopping," said Sterling Hawkins. "Think of it like a customized ad flier." Instead of sending out 100,000 "generic" fliers and getting less than 1% return, we provide the customer with targeted offers. It will save hundreds of thousands, if not millions, in marketing expenditures.

The system offers advantages over loyalty cards, which are often misused, says Gary Hawkins, including cashiers using their own loyalty cards for shoppers or people swapping cards.

Since the father-and-son team launched the program at Syracuse, N.Y.-based Green Hills in May 2006, 50 percent of sales and transactions are done biometrically, Gary Hawkins said. The program gets 100 new enrollees every week, and customers who enroll typically spend 6 percent more and shop 10 percent more.

While the program exists on a small scale at the supermarket, it can be applied to larger retailers, Gary Hawkins said. He predicts an explosion in using the technology in 2007.

"Personalized marketing is moving into retail," he said. Click Here To Read an Individualized Marketing Whitepaper. (PDF File)

Backgrounder

Green Hills was one of the first supermarkets to deploy loyalty cards, having done so in 1993. It was named "The Best Little Grocery Store in America" by Inc. Magazine.

Green Hills CEO Gary Hawkins achieved significant gains in margin and customer retention with the loyalty program by collecting and analyzing data and using it to personalize the store’s marketing. As a result, he began consulting and advising other retailers (and other industry executives) on how to accomplish this.

Accordingly, Hawkins started a consulting company called Hawkins Strategic, through which he consults for retailers and manufacturers, including global consumer goods manufacturers. Hawkins often uses the Green Hills supermarket as a laboratory, where he experiments with new marketing strategies.

“Two years ago, Pay By Touch contacted me to see if I was interested in pursuing using biometrics to enhance the loyalty program at Green Hills,” says Hawkins. “After significant research, we decided to deploy a payment and loyalty program, called SmartShop, powered by Pay By Touch, at our store. SmartShop is accessed by customers using their fingers, so the loyalty program is distinguishable by individual and by household, and discounts are provided that way as well.”

“Existing customers who choose to continue participation in Green Hills’ loyalty program enroll in the SmartShop program by creating a new identification code through Pay By Touch,” says Hawkins. “Customers can enroll in just the loyalty program or the loyalty program combined with an automated wallet of payment methods. The system accepts any payment method customers choose — any type and any number of credit cards or ACH [automatic clearing house] transactions.” Customers can enroll while visiting the store or the store Web site, in which case the customers’ finger images are linked to their account information during their next visit to the store.

Finger Provides Access To Coupons, Rewards, Payment Methods

When using SmartShop, customers receive store offers through a store kiosk (by placing fingers on a sensor to access their personalized accounts), e-mail, or a pre-established, personalized Web page. The account also provides access to an online grocery list, the weekly store advertisement, and personalized advertisements.

Household members can create grocery lists through the store’s Web site that can be accessed later and printed in the store by another member of the household to complete the necessary shopping. Upon checkout, the shopper places a finger over the sensor to redeem personal and public sales discounts.

Payment options also are accessed in this manner, as are store rewards, such as free merchandise, and other store promotions. Historical purchase information is made available to the Pay By Touch system.

A library of possible personalized offers (currently 150 offers per week) is available. These are compared to each shopper’s purchase history, and 20 personalized offers are presented to each customer each week. This number may increase; it was selected initially because it fit nicely on an 8½-by-11-inch piece of paper.

PBT CEO a Panelist at Premier Forecasting Event

New Year, New Challenges
Where will venture investors find success? Will the consumer market actually live up to its potential for VCs? Will the strongest returns in coming years be made in cleantech or Asia? Or do late-stage opportunities - including perhaps even buyouts - have the most promising outlook? And what's an LP to do nowadays: Become more specialized by investing in sector-only funds, or play the generalist game?

These are questions that are increasingly being asked by VCs and their investors as they stuggle with a less-than-stellar exiting environment. To help provide a view of where the venture industry is and where it is headed in 2007, Dow Jones VentureOne has put together an impressive group of speakers, running the gamut from top venture capitalists to CEOs of some of the most promising startups, well-versed industry analysts, major corporate acquirers and knowledgeable limited partners.

Among the panel discussions at this year's Outlook Conference will be a glimpse into hedge funds' latest investment strategy into start-up companies.

Featured in this panel are John Rogers, chairman, CEO and founder of Pay by Touch, Matthew Cowan, managing partner at Bridgescale Partners, Rani Jarkas, managing director and chief investment officer at Global Crown Capital, and David Singer, principal at Maverick Capital.

The event features The Wall Street Journal Technology Roundtable, at which Don Clark, deputy bureau chief for the Journal, Kevin Delaney, staff correspondent and Rob Guth, a reporter, will talk about the key technology trends and areas to watch in the coming year from industry stalwarts like Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft and Intel.

Leaders of the venture capital industry including Alta Partners Managing Director Daniel Janney, Polaris Venture Partners Managing General Partner Alan G. Spoon, Greylock Partners' David Strohm and Charles River Ventures General Partner William P. Tai will provide a look at the venture capital market of today and whether the old model is broken in the opening panel of the Outlook Conference.

REGISTRATION FEE
The fee to attend VentureOne Outlook 2007 is $2,295.00. Early registration savings of $200.00 are available for those attendees who register and pay for a ticket by January 26, 2007. This fee entitles you to attend all elements of the conference, enjoy all food and refreshments provided by the organizers during the conference, and includes your attendee materials. It does not include any travel, accommodation or other costs incurred by attendees. For more information or to register for the VentureOne Outlook, call (866) 291-1800 or go to http://ventureoneoutlook.dowjones.com/.

About VentureOne
Dow Jones VentureOne ( www.ventureone.com and www.venturecapital.dowjones.com), a unit of Dow Jones Financial Information Services, has been the leading provider of finance and investment data to the venture capital industry for almost 20 years. Dow Jones VentureSource, a sophisticated electronic database on the venture capital industry, is published by VentureOne.

About Dow Jones Financial Information Services
Through its Financial Information Services group, Dow Jones produces focused, sector-specific online databases, newsletters and industry events for the private equity, venture capital and diversified markets. Newsletters published include Private Equity Analyst, VentureWire and Daily Bankruptcy Review. In addition, Dow Jones & Company (DJ : dow jones & co inc com
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Pay By Touch Delivers the First Personalized Marketing Solution

Pay By Touch Officially Launches SmartShop, the first Personalized Marketing Solution for Retail Environments

SmartShop combines Pay By Touch's patented biometric technologies with its data-driven marketing services to provide the first truly personalized marketing solution for retail environments.

SmartShop, powered by Pay By Touch, gives shoppers customized offers on the products they buy most when they enter the store - before they shop. It provides merchants and consumer packaged goods companies (CPGs) with an unprecedented return on investment (ROI) by enabling them to deliver the right offer to the right shopper at the right time - both in-store and online.

"Together, our biometric and personalized marketing technologies will fundamentally change the way the world shops," said John Rogers, Founder, Chairman and CEO, Pay By Touch.

"SmartShop offers unparalleled targeting based on shoppers' known preferences and established buying habits in that particular store. There is simply no better way for merchants and manufacturers to reach their targets."

Research shows that 70 percent of buying decisions are made in the store, and that less than one percent of grocery store coupons are ever redeemed.

As a result, millions of marketing dollars are wasted every year.

SmartShop turns every shopper into a uniquely qualified marketing lead and offers unprecedented value to consumers, merchants and manufacturers alike. It provides shoppers with highly relevant offers and saves them from hours of sorting through mass media and clipping coupons.

Here's how it works:

1. When shoppers enter the store, they simply scan their finger at the SmartShop kiosk to get personalized offers based on their purchase history.

2. Shoppers receive an 8 1/2 x 11 print out with 12 to 16 customized offers for the products they buy most, and then head into the aisles to shop.

3. Shoppers scan their finger again at check-out to automatically redeem their offers. They do not need to bring the print out; no paper coupons are required.

One of the country's most innovative grocers, Green Hills Market of Syracuse, New York, was the first to test the SmartShop service.

"The SmartShop service has been extremely popular, and shopper participation is already impacting 50 percent of store revenue," said Gary Hawkins, CEO, Hawkins Strategic and Proprietor of Green Hills Market. "We have seen offer redemption rates exceeding 20 percent.

Of the customers enrolled in SmartShop, who also shopped last year during the same period, their shopping visits have increased by 10% per week."

"Most importantly," Hawkins added, "SmartShop is driving a significant increase in revenue in a time of new market competition from big box stores. It has given us the tools to compete more effectively and not only retain customer loyalty, but attract new customers."

SmartShop provides merchants with customer-based metrics and accurate data that improves the efficacy of marketing efforts. It is easy to implement, with a Web-based management system for algorithmic campaign creation and real-time targeting.

Best of all, SmartShop's sophisticated targeting engine 'learns' from each shopping trip to generate the next set of rewards. It provides robust analytics to make reporting and account settlement easy and accurate.

Pay By Touch has been developing and acquiring personalized marketing technologies since early 2005 when it acquired 7th Street Software and Convena - two loyalty technology providers - and Capture Resource, which offers turnkey solutions for card-based loyalty programs.

The final building block for SmartShop came through Pay By Touch's acquisition of technology partner, S&H Solutions in December, 2006.

Many years and more than $200 million dollars have gone into developing S&H's retail marketing technologies, including a sophisticated algorithmic offer engine that enables retailers to deliver personalized offers in-store through multiple platforms.

Biometric Payments To Enjoy Solid(us) Growth

PELORUS Group: Biometric Payments, Contactless & M-Payments, To Enjoy Solid Growth

Last Update: 8:42 AM ET Jan 10, 2007 RARITAN, N.J., Jan 10, 2007

Three emerging payment alternatives to the traditional magnetic stripe credit debit card payments regime, when combined, hold the potential to significantly alter the payment landscape.

Biometrically authenticated payments contactless payments and mobile payments (m-Payments) and will each levy its own unique impact over the next five years.

Together, they could garner over $400 billion in revenue by 2011.

According to a new report from The PELORUS Group entitled "Alternative Payments: Changing The Rules", several drivers are converging to increase the demand for new payment alternatives.

Whether it's brick & mortar or online Internet payments, the speed and convenience needs of consumers or merchant needs to retain customer loyalty these are important drivers altering payment habits and methods.

Biometrics pioneer, Solidus Networks, d.b.a. Pay By Touch, which recently purchased customer loyalty pioneer, S&H Green Stamps, is well positioned in this space, especially when one considers that it will be introducing Mobile Payments platform in 2007.

Biometric cell phones, like the ones pictured on the left are becoming more commonplace in the market, especially overseas in places like Singapore and Japan where telecom giant, DoMoCom prevails.

In 2007, Pay By Touch expects to launch its offerings into new vertical markets such as healthcare, online, petroleum, into financial institutions and mobile (m-payment) channels.

Moreover, the continuing need for security when making payments is driving both technical and payments innovation, and Pay By Touch has a distinct advantage in the security category.

Payments other than by cash are being made across increasingly diverse payments applications, such as for parking, vending, mass transit and other micropayments. Finally, the large number of unbanked and underbanked consumers in the U.S. and worldwide have payment needs not being fully met by traditional card based payment systems.

According to the report's principal author, Vance Hodnett, Vice President of Financial Services with The PELORUS Group,

"In the nascent melding between traditional payment systems offered by financial institutions and payment systems offered by others, such as telecom carriers and independent service providers, financial institutions will have both an opportunity and a threat when it comes to offering consumers functional and suitably responsive payment systems. Over the long run financial institutions will find it in their interest to offer their customers more flexible and convenient payment methods."


The PELORUS Group estimates that aggregate revenue from biometric contactless and m-Payments, at U.S. merchants will grow over 15-fold by 2011 from a 2006 level of $27 billion.

SOURCE: The PELORUS Group The PELORUS Group Greggory Blundell, 908-707-1121 gblundell@pelorus-group.com www.pelorus-group.com Copyright Business Wire 2007