The News

INSIDE Achieves First Commercial Deployment of Its NFC Technologies

15/02/2010

MicroRead NFC Chip, Open NFC Stack and Wave-Me Client Power NewCosyphone

Feb. 15, 2010 (Business Wire) -- Mobile World Congress 2010

INSIDE Contactless, a leading provider of advanced, open-standard contactless chip technologies, today announced the first deployment of its portfolio of NFC technologies in a commercially available NFC handset. All three of INSIDE's core NFC offerings - the MicroRead (TM) NFC controller chip, the Open NFC (TM) protocol stack and the Wave-Me (TM) handset client software - are working together to enhance the user experience for the Cosyphone, a new NFC mobile phone announced today by Sagem Wireless.

The Cosyphone is a stylish device that places a heavy emphasis on ergonomics and ease of use, and employs INSIDE's NFC technologies to simplify access to the phone's features. A connected lifestyle device aimed at the over 50's market, the Cosyphone enables users to make calls, send text messages or access data services such as weather or traffic information simply by waving the phone near an NFC tag or smart poster without having to navigate through more cumbersome menus.

"The Cosyphone marks a significant milestone in the development of our NFC technologies, and we are pleased to celebrate their first commercial deployment with our partner, Sagem Wireless," said Andre Ponton, vice president of key accounts at INSIDE Contactless. "The Cosyphone is the embodiment of our vision of enhanced NFC services, going beyond traditional payment and transit fare transactions to actually making the phone easier to use by simplifying access to functions and services."

According to Ponton, the MicroRead chip's self-powered battery-off mode and low-power NFC tag detection features will help to improve the user experience of the Cosyphone by enabling payment or other transactions to take place successfully even when the handset is turned off or the battery is completely drained. Use of the commercial-grade Open NFC protocol stack reflects the trend toward open platforms in the mobile industry, and helps ODMs such as Sagem Wireless achieve faster time to market, lower development cost and greater flexibility.

With INSIDE's Wave-Me technology in the Cosyphone, users can access relevant, profile-based services with a simple waving gesture near an NFC tag or smart poster. This automatically simulates a complex series of keystrokes, eliminating awkward, time-consuming, multi-keystroke chores. NFC tags and smart posters may contain relevant phone numbers or complex URLs to send SMS messages or send and retrieve information from web sites.

"Sagem Wireless has a close partnership with INSIDE Contactless and we are pleased to be able to provide the platform for their first commercial NFC deployment with our new Cosyphone," said Jerome Nadel, executive vice president, marketing and user experience, Sagem Wireless. "Our goal with Cosyphone was to combine the latest technology innovations, including NFC, with a simple, elegant design and easy-to-use interface to create a simple, effective connected lifestyle device which makes life easier."

Cosyphone will be available in early in the 3 rd quarter of 2010 and will be sold through mobile network operators.

About Sagem Wireless
Sagem Wireless provides customized connected lifestyle devices and services to leading consumer lifestyle brands and mobile network operators worldwide. Using technology innovation and customer insight as strategic tools in the product design process, Sagem Wireless develops a range of connected lifestyle devices personalized to the specific needs of different customer segments. With industry leading technology partners and its own R&D centers based in Europe and Asia, Sagem Wireless offers pre-requisite manufacturing expertise intrinsic to the product design process that relies on both flexibility and the highest level of quality to assure successful entry into new and existing markets. For more information, visit: www.sagemwireless.com.

About INSIDE Contactless
INSIDE Contactless is the global leader in open-standard contactless payment and near field communication (NFC) semiconductors and software that power the next generation of payment, transit, identity and access control applications. The company's intelligent, microprocessor-based platforms offer the flexibility to be embedded in smart cards, mobile phones and other consumer electronic devices, documents, badges and other items to support a wide range of innovative contactless applications and bring new levels of convenience to users. INSIDE has delivered more than 350 million contactless platforms worldwide to customers and partners that include many of the leading payment card and mobile phone manufacturers, systems integrators and financial institutions. With a portfolio of 60 families of patents, including several essential NFC patents, the company has played a leading role in NFC and contactless innovation. INSIDE is headquartered in Aix-en-Provence, France, with offices in Shanghai, Singapore, Warsaw, Seoul and Silicon Valley.