November 7, 2013 – Moscow, Russia – I-Free company has introduced new features of the built-in mobile application “Wallet”: remote issuance of contactless transport cards that allow paying for public transport in 11 cities of Russia with one touch of the phone, as well as coupon service.
The application is implemented on the basis of NFC technology and QR codes and is currently available on HTC and Philips smartphones.
In May of this year, i-Free, the first company in Russia, introduced a full-featured NFC wallet built into smartphones. The application is implemented on the basis of the i-FreeTSM(TrustedServiceManager) platform certified by MasterCard. The certificate obtained by i–Free gives the right to remotely issue contactless MasterCard Mobile PayPass® bank cards to mobile phones in any country of the world. This is the first in the CIS and one of the first certified solutions of this kind in the world.
The first users of the “Wallet” and NFC-bank cards issued in a smartphone were customers of Tinkoff Credit Systems Bank (TKS Bank). Their number is growing every day, and in order to motivate consumers to evaluate the possibilities of a bank card MobilePayPass, MasterCard, i–Free and TKSBANK give the first 100 thousand users 150 rubles.
In addition to bank cards, the Wallet also provides remote issuance of transport cards, with which you can pay for public transport. Today, such a technical opportunity has been implemented in 11 cities of Russia: in Angarsk, Vologda, Yekaterinburg, Kaluga, Kirov, Lipetsk, Nizhnevartovsk, Penza, Ryazan, Usinsk, Cheboksary.
The pilot launch of this service is carried out in the Vologda region and the Republic of Chuvashia.Residents of Cheboksary and Vologda will be the first to be able to buy travel tickets “in one click” through a “Wallet” and pay for public transport using an NFC-enabled smartphone.
Integrators of transport solutions became partners of this part of the project: the company “Convenient Route” – in Angarsk, Yekaterinburg, Kaluga, Kirov, Penza, Cheboksary; the company “Shtrik-M” – in Vologda, Lipetsk, Ryazan, Nizhnevartovsk and Usinsk.
In addition to bank and transport cards, discount coupons are also available to users of the Wallet today. The i-Free platform, using specialized algorithms, offers to purchase the most interesting discount coupons that can be purchased “in one click” directly in the application by paying for the purchase with a bank card issued in the Wallet.
The coupon service was implemented in cooperation with KupiKupon, one of the largest online coupon sales systems in Russia.
Commenting on the new features of the Wallet, Kirill Gorynya, CEO of i-Free Innovations, said: “By developing the technological platform and the Wallet application implemented on its basis, we are making every effort to make everyday use of NFC smartphones not only useful and profitable, but also convenient and pleasant. We are sure that people will quickly appreciate the new level of comfort provided by a smartphone with a Wallet: they no longer need to carry several cards, stand in queues to buy a transport pass, collect and store paper coupons – all this is now right in the smartphone.”
At the moment, the Wallet application is integrated into eight HTC and Ph i l ips smartphone models that are already on sale in the Russian market.In the near future, the “Wallet” will appear on smartphones of other world-famous manufacturers.
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i-Free is an innovative company that has been operating in the CIS market since 2001, and in the international market since 2006. Specializes in the creation and implementation of innovative projects in the field of mobile and NFC technologies, electronic finance, digital content distribution, electronic payment systems and micropayments, the development of applications for smartphones and new network devices, as well as the promotion of digital products in the B2C market and the implementation of B2B projects in the field of mobile marketing.
The company is represented and successfully operates in international markets: i-Free offices are located in Kiev (Ukraine), Minsk (Belarus), Almaty (Kazakhstan), Mumbai (India), Beijing (China), Sao Paolo (Brazil). I-Free products and services are delivered today to more than 100 countries around the world.
The headquarters of i-Free is located in St. Petersburg, the representative office is in Moscow. Currently, the company employs more than 750 people.
i-Free cooperates with leading mobile operators in Russia and CIS countries, global mobile equipment vendors, banks, multinational brands and trademarks, major media holdings, publishing houses and Internet resources.
More detailed information about the company on the website www.i-free.com
For more information, please contact:
Aelita Davydova,
e-mail: pr@i-free.com