International industry leaders presenting during the Mobile and NFC Track are: 3G Americas, Aite Group, Authentec, Bay Area Rapid Transit District, Booz Allen Hamilton, Cassis International, Cellular South, Citibank, FireThorn, First Annapolis Consulting, First Data, Gemalto, Giesecke & Devrient, Infineon Technologies, Inside Contactless, Motorola, Nokia, NTT DoCoMo, NXP Semiconductors, Sprint Nextel, StoLPaN, Venyon, ViVOtech and Vodafone.

“A recent report hit the mark, saying that while contactless payments are paving the way for mobile phones to become a consumer’s electronic wallet, there’s still a real need for all of the major stakeholders to work together to provide a cohesive solution,” said Randy Vanderhoof, executive director of the Smart Card Alliance, citing the April 2008 Javelin Strategy and Research report, Contactless Strategy & Forecast. “We’re providing an open forum to make this happen. All of these primary players are coming together to address the business issues, outcomes of pilots, and possible solutions that will have consumers paying with their mobile phones in the very near future.”

Sessions in the NFC and Mobile track cover NFC technology and business models, mobile technology, and wireless devices and security. Use case presentations will be made, and panel members will discuss lessons learned and future implementations. A special Birds-of-a-Feather roundtable on the business issues of a shared device for banking, mobile and transit offers attendees a chance to engage in a discussion with industry leaders in an open forum.

“We built the CTST 2008 agenda around the theme of ‘the future of payments and security.’ That future seems to point to many similarities involving developments in contactless chip technology and mobile technologies driving more convenient ways to pay and access on-demand services. The agenda also covers the convergence of contactless financial payments, NFC-enabled mobile payments, and transit in major U.S. pilots underway,” added Vanderhoof.

NFC mobile payment allows consumers to pay for goods and services with a simple wave of their mobile phone. Because the technology can link electronic devices, it also opens up possibilities for more diverse transactions like ticketing, transportation payments, vending and music downloads.

For the complete agenda and to register, please visit www.ctst.com.