The Mobile Payments Services Association (MPSA), founded by Orange, Telefonica Moviles, T-Mobile and Vodafone to drive interoperable mobile payments, has announced its new brand name and corporate identity - Simpay.
Simpay's overall objective is to create an open and interoperable framework for mobile payments. In February the company recruited former NatWest banker and Mondex creator Tim Jones as chief executive.
He says: "We are confident the Simpay brand will be easily identifiable in our key markets for its convenience and reliability. Our aim is for you to see it on music Web sites, when making a flight booking or even when paying a bus fare."
Transactions conducted by Simpay would include low-priced items where the purchase is debited from a mobile user's operator account, such as buying an MP3 music file, downloading a game or paying a parking meter. For higher-value purchases like flight-bookings, theatre tickets and gift orders, Simpay intends to provide a secure link to the customer's bank account or their credit, debit or charge card to complete the transaction.
Simpay carriers will charge a fee to merchants for low value transactions processed directly over the network, presenting an opportunity for mobile operators to follow the banking credit card model and take on the role of merchant acquirers.
The launch of Simpay includes the announcement of the key management appointments of Simon Richards as chief operating officer, who joins from Alpheus Solutions, which he co-founded, Jim Wadsworth as chief marketing officer, from Vodafone and Edward Cooke as chief financial officer, from Orange.
The company says that other mobile operators, including 3, debitel, KPN Mobile group, O2 and TMN have expressed interest in joining Simpay and the four founding members are also inviting others to participate.