Olympic Partners Team Up For Mobile Payments

Samsung Electronics, the Worldwide Olympic Partner for Wireless Communications Equipment, and Visa, the Worldwide Olympic Partner and exclusive Payment Services sponsor are combining technologies to make mobile payments a reality at the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in London. To make payments, customers willsimply select the Visa mobile contactless application, select pay and hold the phone in front of a contactless reader at the point of purchase.

Samsung and Visa will work together to provide the contactless enabled Olympics handset to Visa and Samsung sponsored athletes as part of this initiative. Samsung and Visa also plan to make the Olympics handset available for consumers to purchase through mobile network operators and other distributors. A Visa-enabled SIM card will be required for use with the device in order to make purchases at contactless retailers.

“Visa, like Samsung, shares the vision of leveraging our Olympic and Paralympic Games sponsorship to leave a lasting legacy in the market for banks, retailers, mobile operators and consumers. We are not only breaking new ground for Olympic partnerships, we are committed to enabling consumers to connect with mobile and contactless payments technology for 2012 and beyond,” said Peter Ayliffe, CEO of Visa Europe. “We look forward to working with financial institutions and mobile operators alongside Samsung to make this initiative a success.”

Currently, Visa mobile payments are being rolled out in countries across the globe including Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Brazil, France, Hong Kong, Italy, Malaysia, Poland, Singapore, Spain, Slovakia, Switzerland, Turkey, the UK and the United States.

“Innovation is a key business driver for Visa and mobile payments are one of the main areas we're focusing on. The Olympic and Paralympic Games enables us to accelerate our business goals and this partnership plays a large role in achieving them,” said Mariano Dima, Executive Vice President of Marketing and Payment Solutions at Visa Europe.

Visa is working with banks and retailers worldwide to roll-out acceptance for Visa contactless cards, as well as mobile phones, as part of an industry wide roll-out of contactless technology. In London there are already more than 60,000 locations where contactless payments are accepted and contactless and electronic card payments will be available across London during the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. <>P> “As a pioneer in mobile technology, Samsung is striving for long term change in the way we use mobile payments. In London next year, we regard the greatest show on earth as the perfect opportunity to showcase how this technology can make a positive difference to people’s lives - enabling them to feel closer to the Olympic and Paralympic Games. This mobile payment device will be available in the UK initially, and we plan to expand the service to other countries in Europe and around the world where contactless payment facilities are available in the near future,” said Seokpil Kim, President & CEO of Samsung Electronics Europe.

“This marks the very first partnership between two Worldwide Olympic Partners of the London 2012 Olympic Games," Gyehyun Kwon, Vice President & Head of Worldwide Sports Marketing, Samsung Electronics added. "We are delighted to be joining forces with Visa to make the Olympic Games more accessible and convenient for everyone. This fits extremely well with our ambition to enable more people to participate in the Games through our smart technology.”