Kyocera Wireless (News - Alert) has successfully field-tested handsets used in a groundbreaking WirelessWallet consumer trial by Cellular South. The handsets, equipped with Near Field Communications (NFC) technology, were used by consumers to make wireless payments and purchases in the nation’s first multi-city trial by a wireless service provider.

 

A post-trial survey conducted by Insights Research Group showed that 87 percent of WirelessWallet testers are interested in using the mobile payment technology when it becomes commercially available. The survey also revealed that more than 75 percent of testers were satisfied with their WirelessWallet transactions. The vast majority of participants indicated the groundbreaking application was both easy and convenient to use. The companies believes that the trial results provided strong testament to the added value of NFC-enabled technology for consumers seeking innovative, simplified methods for making everyday payments and purchases.

 

Dave Carey, general manager of the Consumer Products Group at Kyocera Wireless Corp. said that Kyocera Wireless is excited by the validation provided by Cellular South’s consumer trial and the market opportunity for NFC technology. The company believes that consumers are ready to embrace the benefits and ease of use of NFC-enabled handsets and related mCommerce applications.

 

Carey emphasizes that these results strongly support Kyocera’s vision and early development efforts to integrate NFC technology into an intuitive, user-friendly handset solution. Kyocera Wireless intends to build on this experience to solidify their position as an industry-leading provider of NFC-enabled devices.

 

Cellular South reportedly conducted the three-month trial in Jackson, Miss. and Memphis, Tenn. with partners Bank of America, ViVOtech and Mpact, Inc. Cellular South points out that along with being the nation’s first multi-city trial of its kind, it was the first to use the technology at multiple retail locations throughout the trial cities using MasterCard PayPass, and one of the first to successfully test the secure over-the-air download of credit card accounts.

 

Additionally, at the technology level, it was the first North American trial of its kind on a CDMA wireless network and the first to employ biometric security, with fingerprint scanners from Atrua Technologies for transactional security on the test handsets.

 

“We were very pleased with the performance of Kyocera’s prototype handsets in this trial,” said Suzy Hays, senior vice president of marketing sales at Cellular South in a statement.

 

Hays explained that as the end-user’s ultimate touch-point and tangible interface with the WirelessWallet service, Kyocera’s NFC-enabled handsets were a key element in ensuring a positive experience for their customers.

 

“Kyocera understood this and provided strong support throughout this successful trial,” she concluded.