The trial will kick off in the Phoenix metropolitan area and will enable cardholders receive and redeem offers - from merchant discounts to specials - using their mobile phones.

Merchant offers will be tailored to match customers' personal interests and will be redeemable at the point of sale or the Web site of participating merchants.

Cardholders will be able to set preferences on a Web site and choose offers and merchants that are most relevant and compelling to them. Chases says this approach allows consumers to control what offers they receive and enables merchants to send offers only to those consumers most likely to be interested.

Chase says Visa's Mobile Platform will be used to deliver offers to mobile devices via SMS text message.

Commenting on the new service, Eileen Serra, Chase Card Services executive, says: "The intersection of mobile technology and consumer financial services is an area of focus for Chase. We're using leading technology to deliver compelling offers from top merchants directly to consumers' mobile devices, and at the same time, helping to increase spending and create greater loyalty for merchants participating in the trial."

Among the retailers participating in the pilot are Circle K, Macy's and Marriott. In addition, fans of the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball team will receive special game-day offers when attending games at Chase Field in Phoenix.

Chase and Visa will review the service in the fourth quarter to evaluate the impact of mobile offers on stakeholder interest, cardholder engagement and card usage.

A study released earlier this year by Juniper Research predicts that retailers will have issued almost three billion mobile coupons to customers by 2011, with just under $7 billion of discounts redeemed.

Juniper said the technology is cheaper for merchants than paper campaigns and provides a one-to-one marketing opportunity. In addition, mobile coupons have a higher conversion rate and reduce fraud.