 Gemplus launches GemInstant™ PayPass™ and enhances U.S. production capability for contactless payment
Gemplus receives full certification from MasterCard®
International for its GemInstant
PayPass™ solution
Luxembourg and Horsham, PENNSYLVANIA - 5 July, 2005 - Gemplus
International S.A. (Euronext: LU0121706294 - GEM and NASDAQ: GEMP), the world's
leading provider of smart card solutions, today launched its GemInstant™
PayPass™ solution for contactless payment. The company also confirmed that
it received full certification from MasterCard® International for GemInstant™
PayPass™.
GemInstant PayPass leverages contactless technology to simplify
payment for small value transactions in venues where speed is essential. It
consists of a MasterCard payment card with a built-in chip and antenna that uses
short range radio waves to allow users to simply tap their GemInstant PayPass
smart cards on specially-equipped PayPass terminals to securely transmit
account details.
Merchant and consumer interest in MasterCard PayPass in the U.S.
continues to grow, with an increasing number of merchants and other commercial
partners agreeing to accept the contactless payment program. They include
McDonald’s, Regal Entertainment Group movie theaters, CVS pharmacies, and
7-Eleven and Sheetz convenience stores, as well as several sporting arenas.
Additionally, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., one of the largest credit-card issuer in
the U.S., has publicly announced plans to issue cards powered by MasterCard
PayPass during 2005.
GemInstant PayPass achieved all of the MasterCard PayPass
approval requirements on 30 June, bringing to the banks a contactless solution
compliant with the MasterCard PayPass specifications and testing
requirements. The cards will be produced at Gemplus’ recently enhanced card
manufacturing facility in Pennsylvania, U.S. starting in July 2005.
“We see huge growth opportunities in the contactless market worldwide.
Banking, retail, transportation, and government sectors are all considering
various contactless technologies because of the improved speed and efficiency at
terminals and reduced maintenance costs,” said Philippe Combes, Gemplus’
Executive Vice-President Operations and Financial Services.
Ernie Berger, President of Gemplus North America, added, “Being among the
first smart card providers to achieve full certification for MasterCard
PayPass is a serious endorsement of the effort we’ve put into developing
contactless solutions over the last decade.”
About MasterCard® PayPass™
MasterCard PayPass is a new “contactless” payment program that provides
consumers with a simple way to pay. Using MasterCard PayPass, consumers
simply “tap” their payment card, or alternative PayPass form factor, on a
specially equipped merchant terminal, eliminating the need to swipe a card
through a reader or fumble for cash and coins. The new solution is ideal for
quick payment environments where speed is essential, such as quick serve
restaurants, gas stations, drug stores, supermarkets and movie theaters.
About Gemplus
Gemplus International S.A. (Euronext: LU0121706294 - GEM and NASDAQ: GEMP)
is the world's leading player in the smart card industry in both revenue and
total shipments (source: Gartner-Dataquest (2005), Frost & Sullivan,
Datamonitor.). It has sold over 5 billion smart cards.
With security at its core, and 2400 patents and patent applications produced
by its innovative R&D team, Gemplus delivers a wide range of portable,
personalized solutions in areas including Identity, Mobile Telecommunications,
Public Telephony, Banking, Retail, Transport, Healthcare, WLAN, Pay-TV,
e-government, and access control.
Gemplus' revenue in 2004 was 865 million Euros.
www.gemplus.com
For more information:
Steve Lacourt
Gemplus
Tel: (32) 2 711 4820
Email: steve.lacourt@gemplus.com
Rebecca Naysan
Edelman
Tel: 212 704 8245
Email: rebecca.naysan@edelman.com
©2005 Gemplus. All rights reserved. Gemplus, the Gemplus
logo, and SafesITe are trademarks and service marks of Gemplus S.A. and are
registered in certain countries. All other trademarks and service marks, whether
registered or not in specific countries, are the property of their respective
owners.
Some of the statements contained in this release constitute
forward-looking statements. These statements relate to future events or our
future financial performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties,
and other factors that may cause our or our industry's actual results, levels of
activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future
results, levels of activities, performance, or achievements expressed or implied
by such forward-looking statements. Actual events or results may differ
materially. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the
forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee future results,
levels of activity, performance or achievements. Factors that could cause actual
results to differ materially from those estimated by the forward-looking
statements contained in this release include, but are not limited to: trends in
wireless communication and mobile commerce markets; our ability to develop new
technology, and the effects of competing technologies developed and expected
intense competition generally in our main markets; profitability of our
expansion strategy; challenges to or loss of our intellectual property rights;
our ability to establish and maintain strategic relationships in our major
businesses; our ability to develop and take advantage of new software and
services; and the effect of future acquisitions and investments on our share
price. Moreover, neither we nor any other person assumes responsibility for the
accuracy and completeness of such forward-looking statements. The
forward-looking statements contained in this release speak only as of this
release. We are under no duty to update any of the forward-looking statements
after this date to conform such statements to actual results or to reflect the
occurrence of anticipated results.
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