Motorola Takes Plastic

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. and LOS ANGELES -- Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) and Creditel today announced a technology licensing and co-marketing agreement that calls for Motorola to certify the Creditel PowerSwipe(TM) phone accessory device for use with select Motorola iDEN(R) mobile handsets. Together, Motorola and Creditel, a leading provider of secure turn-key wireless payment transaction solutions, will make it possible for mobile business merchants to securely process credit card and check payments using the Creditel proprietary PowerPay(TM) software and PowerSwipe device when attached directly to Motorola iDEN phones. "The primary goal of this initiative is to provide mobile merchants with the tools they need to conduct business easily, securely and inexpensively wherever and whenever they need to," said Georges F. Elias, chief executive officer of Creditel. "This cooperative effort with Motorola represents the ideal combination of superior handset and infrastructure functionality, coupled with unparalleled usability and transactional security at an affordable price." Creditel research indicates that mobile field personnel are responsible for more than 30 billion credit card and check transactions each year, most of which cannot be processed from the field securely or efficiently. The PowerSwipe device utilizes the most advanced "secure at the read" encryption technology available in any mobile point of service (POS) device today, and can acknowledge transactions in six to eight seconds. It has a sleek, unobtrusive design that incorporates a magnetic stripe reader, check imager, infrared data/printing port, and pass-through connector for charging the phone battery. Test trials of the PowerSwipe device will begin in the third quarter of this year within selected U.S. markets, with a full- scale commercial launch planned for the fourth quarter. Motorola Inc.