I just got this email from Citibank:

Are you interested in a new and cool way to use your mobile phone? Citi is offering this opportunity to a very limited number of customers so read on.

Over the next few months Citi will be testing a convenient and secure way to use a mobile phone to buy things and get information. Do you want to be one of the few to test this new technology? And you will even receive a reward to participate in this beta test. All you need to do is click on the link below for more information.

For more information click below

NYCTRIAL.COM

Did Citibank know that one of the customers is a mobile blogger? No, this is not Citibank’s mobile banking application rumored to be in the works…(insiders have told me that they are working on a Quicken like application for the phone). And no it is not the first bank in the US to jump on the mobile banking idea. Chase has, at least in their commercials, been providing bank account SMS alerts for some time now.

http://www.mastercard.com/us/paypass/mobile/index.html

So, like the Metrocard Speed Fab (mobile payment tags) Citibank has teamed up with Mastercard and Cingular to test mobile payments and more. Participants in the New York test will receive a special mobile phone that is not available anywhere else (the phone on the webpage is a Nokia), have the ability to pay for all sorts of purchases with just a tap of their phone and get access to special events and exclusive content from sponsors. Users will also be able to download entertainment content at smart posters displaying the trial symbol (shown above next to the Citi logo).

So the phones will probably have the same chip thats in the payment tags only being a phone instead of a stick at the end of your keychain this creates the opportunity for a lot more “interaction” to take place… whatever that means.

I will let you know what happens when I get it and swipe my phone to pay at the nearest PayPass cooperating venue.

Perhaps the Mobile Banking application will be on it as well.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 20th, 2006 at 12:49 pm and is filed under RFID, Money. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.