APAC Smart Card Mass Transit and Payment Application: Time for Convergence?

Business Wire, June 9, 2008

SINGAPORE -- Frost & Sullivan's Smart Card and Auto ID Practice in Asia Pacific (http://www.smartcards.frost.com) will host an analyst briefing via webinar on Smart Card Mass Transit and Payment Application in the Asia Pacific on June 18th 2008, at 11:00 hrs (GMT 08:00hrs) Singapore time.

The APAC contactless smart card market has taken off well in Asia Pacific, particularly in mass transit and payment applications. Both applications are major growth areas, and ripe for possible convergence on common platforms, be it on a card or other form factors like the mobile phone.

This briefing will, in particular, look at the following key areas: Overview of the APAC Mass Transit application as well as Contactless Banking application, issues and challenges for mass transit and payment/banking applications convergence. There will be an analysis on where APAC stands in the market, non-Card form factors as a platform for convergence - including NFC and finally an outlook on the way forward and where we are heading.

Highlights of the briefing include exploration of the possible convergence and some of the challenges of multi-application with regards to these two applications. We will also provide an update of related and upcoming research and provide an opportunity for a question and answer session with the analyst.

This briefing will benefit smart card vendors, transit operators, financial card issuers, mobile operators and system integrators operating in the mass transit and banking smart card industry. Through analyzing smart cards mass transit and the banking/banking application in APAC, industry participants will be able to recognize areas for potential future growth of the convergence.

Industry Analyst, Smart Cards and Auto ID, Frost & Sullivan, Michelle Foong says, "The contactless mass transit application using smart card technology has served several cities in Asia Pacific well over the past few years. Coupled with the rise of contactless payment programs in this region, this is a great opportunity for industry players to consider convergence of both applications on common platforms."

Join us as Michelle shares some invaluable insights on the possible union of these common platforms. Those interested in registering for the interactive webinar should send an email to Donna Jeremiah - Corporate Communications at djeremiah@frost.com with the following information: full name, company name, title, telephone number, e-mail address, city, state and country.

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