Ericsson, Matsushita, Motorola, Nokia and Siemens have today announced that Sony Corporation, has joined the MeT initiative. The companies are jointly developing an open and common industry framework for secure mobile electronic transactions. The aim of the MeT initiative is to develop safe and easy methods and platforms for conducting e-commerce transactions on mobile phones. MeT also works to facilitate the development of innovative new services and applications - benefiting customers and service providers alike.
" The inclusion of Sony in the MeT initiative is an important step towards achieving the initiative's goal of facilitating the fast adoption of trusted mobile commerce services. We are very pleased that Sony will join us in promoting open and global standards for mobile transactions," said Martti Granberg, chairman of MeT. "At the same time, we would like to take the opportunity to welcome all companies active in the secure mobile transactions environment and interested in sharing our basic views to join MeT."
“We are excited to join this forward-looking initiative for secure mobile electronic transactions,” said Kentaro Odaka, President, Telecommunication Laboratory, Personal IT Network Company of Sony Corporation. “As a leading global electronics company, we hope to contribute to MeT’s activities through our expertise, as well as bring attractive products to the market, giving our customers the convenience and benefit of mobile e-commerce,” he added.
The MeT Initiative was formed by Ericsson, Motorola, and Nokia on April 11, 2000, with the purpose of jointly developing an open and common industry framework for secure mobile electronic transactions. The initiative uses existing and emerging standards to create a common framework that will facilitate the fast adoption of trusted mobile commerce services globally. Since its establishment, the mobile phone manufacturers, Siemens, Matsushita, and now Sony, have joined the initiative.
The MeT technologies and concepts will work on all networks, with all services, and from all mobile devices. They will draw on existing industry standards such as WAP, Wireless Transport Layer Security (WTLS), Wireless Identification Module (WIM), Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and Bluetooth. Privacy and security will be ensured with digital signatures and cryptography services for transaction verification, confidentiality, authentication, and non-repudiation. Examples of MeT based applications include secure access and use of personal credit cards, debit cards, loyalty schemes, and ticketing.
More information can be found at www.mobiletransaction.org.
About Ericsson
Ericsson is the leading communications supplier, combining innovation in mobility and Internet in creating the new era of Mobile Internet. Ericsson provides total solutions covering everything from systems and applications to mobile phones and other communications tools. With more than 100,000 employees in 140 countries, Ericsson simplifies communications for customers all over the world. For more information about Ericsson, visit the Website at www.ericsson.com/pressroom.
About Motorola, Inc.
Motorola, Inc. (NYSE:MOT) is a global leader in providing integrated communications solutions and embedded electronic solutions. Sales in 2000 were $37.6 billion. For more information about Motorola, visit the Website at www.motorola.com.
About Nokia
Nokia is the world leader in mobile communications. Backed by its experience, innovation, user-friendliness and secure solutions, the company has become the leading supplier of mobile phones and a leading supplier of mobile, fixed and IP networks. By adding mobility to the Internet Nokia creates new opportunities for companies and further enriches the daily lives of people. Nokia is a broadly held company with listings on six major exchanges.
For more information about Nokia, please visit www.nokia.com.
About Matsushita
Matsushita Communication Industrial Co., Ltd., a consolidated subsidiary of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., best known for its Panasonic- brand products, is one of the world's leading manufactures of mobile phones for the global market. The company's contributions to the mobile communications industry include W-CDMA wireless infrastructure products, information platforms, and terminal products for mobile multimedia. It is also working with other leading mobile communication manufactures on the Symbian project, whose goal is to develop an operating system for mobile information terminals. For more information about Panasonic's mobile communications, visit their web site at www.mci.panasonic.co.jp/english. Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (NYSE:MC), a worldwide leader in the development and manufacture of, electronics products for home, business and industrial use, recorded consolidated sales of US$68.9 billion for fiscal year ended March 2000. Matsushita Electric and its affiliates have over 290,000 employees in 46 countries. For more information about about Matsushita Electric and its Panasonic products, visit their web site at www.panasonic.co.jp/global/top.html.
About Siemens IC Mobile
The Siemens Information and Communication Mobile Group (26,000 employees, sales of 6 billion EUR in first 9 months of FY 2000) offers a complete range of mobile telephone products including devices, infrastructure and applications. Devices include mobile phones, ISDN phones, mobile organizers, cordless and corded phones. The infrastructure portfolio includes the complete range of network technologies from base stations and switching systems to applications and intelligent networks. For more information about Siemens, please visit www.siemens.de/ic/mobile.
About Sony
Sony Corporation is a leading manufacturer of audio, video, game, communications and information technology products for the consumer and professional markets. With its music, pictures, computer entertainment and on-line businesses, Sony is uniquely positioned to be a leading broadband entertainment company in the world. Sony recorded consolidated annual sales of more than $63 billion for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2000.
Sony's Home Page URL: www.world.sony.com
Further information:
Jan Ahrenbring, Vice President, Marketing and Communications
Ericsson Mobile Communications AB
Phone: +46 70 590 9900
Jan.ahrenbring@ecs.ericsson.se
Patrick Hamilton
Motorola
441 256 790 481
patrick.hamilton@motorola.com
Pekka Isosomppi
Nokia
Tel. +358 10 5051
pekka.isosomppi@nokia.com
Yasuharu Enda
Matsushita Communication Industrial Co., Ltd.
Tel. +81 (0)3 3438 9203
P02793@plt.mci.mei.co.jp
Georg Wolf
Siemens ICM Mobile Devices
Tel. +49 (0)89 722 – 32 431
georg.wolf@mch.siemens.de
Ted Kanno
Public Relations Department, Sony Corporation
Tel: +81 (0)3 5448 2200
tekkanno@ccom.sony.co.jp
www.nokia.com