Visa Interactive, Sony and General Magic Unveil Hand-Held Solution for Remote Banking
SAN FRANCISCO — February 27, 1996 — Visa Interactive and General Magic unveiled today a bank-brandable application for on-line account access and bill payment via hand-held communications hardware.
Visa Interactive's newest front-end solution for remote banking utilizes Sony Electronic's touch-screen-driven Magic Link(TM) PIC-2000, a hand-held communications tool and organizer (also called a personal intelligent communicator or PIC) which incorporates General Magic's Magic Cap(TM) operating system. Using the Magic Link's built-in modem, the user-friendly program enables customers of participating Visa-member financial institutions to remotely pay bills, access and update account information, transfer funds, and conduct other account-related activities. General Magic's software includes a virtual retail branch building — which can be tailored to a financial institution's brand and product specifications — in the downtown scene of the Magic Cap user interface.
"We have taken the richness and versatility found in many PC-based applications and put them into a small yet powerful hand-held tool," said D. Fraser Bullock, president and chief operating officer of Visa Interactive, a wholly owned subsidiary of Visa International. "We are ensuring that financial institutions can choose their own branded solution for the growing number of consumers who desire real portability and thorough access to their accounts and billers."
Motorola, with its Envoy(R) Wireless Communicator, also is expected to participate in pilot programs this year.
Deposit Guaranty National Bank of Jackson, Miss.; Cincinnati-based Star Banc Corporation; Universal 1 Credit Union, headquartered in Dayton, Ohio; and Zions First National Bank based in Salt Lake City are among the first Visa member financial institutions scheduled to implement pilot programs in second quarter of 1996.
As with all other remote-banking applications by Visa Interactive, the Magic Cap-based program is expected to be available to consumers through participating financial institutions which brand, price and deliver their own product.
"The Magic Link was designed to bring ease of use and portability to such communications-based applications as faxing, e-mail and internet access," said Kazuo Imai, president of Sony Electronics' Personal Information Company. "Visa Interactive's ADMS (Access Device Messaging Standard) protocol allows financial institutions to deliver branded, easy-to-use, portable solutions to their customers, utilizing off-the-shelf Sony hardware."
"Together, General Magic, Visa and Sony are helping provide to financial institutions and their customers truly useful services in the electronic marketplace," said Marc Porat, chairman and chief executive officer of General Magic. "We believe this easy-to-use approach for banking and paying bills is exactly the kind of application that users of Magic Cap and other consumers will appreciate."
The Magic Cap platform, with versions for personal intelligent communicators (such as Sony's Magic Link PIC-2000 and the Envoy Wireless Communicator from Motorola) and Windows, integrates today's popular modes of communication, including fax, public electronic mall services, paging and telephones.
Sony Personal Information Company, formed to develop products for the mobile communications market, has worldwide operations based in San Jose, Calif. Customer service and consumer product information for the family of Magic Link personal communicators are available seven days a week by calling Sony at 800-55-MAGIC. Service and support are also available to PC and Macintosh(R) system users through Sony's Magic Link Information Center on America Online or on the Magic Link home page on the World Wide Web at http://www.sel.sony.com/SEL/Magic/.
General Magic Inc. (Nasdaq: GMGC) was founded in May 1990, and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif. Its mission is to participate in the electronic marketplace by developing and licensing software to leading providers of communication products, network services and network applications. The General Magic Founding Partners Council includes AT&T, Cable & Wireless, France Telecom, Fujitsu, Matsushita, Mitsubishi Corporation, Mitsubishi Electric, Motorola, Nortel, NTT, Oki, Philips, Sanyo, Sony and Toshiba. General Magic's World Wide Web address is http://www.genmagic.com/.
Headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, Visa is the world's largest payment system. It plays a pivotal role in developing and implementing new technologies that benefit its 19,000 member financial institutions and their cardholders, businesses, governments and the global economy. Visa's 442 million cards are accepted by more than 12.2 million merchants worldwide. With more than 264,500 ATMs in 93 countries, no other ATM network is larger than Visa/PLUS.
Visa Internet address: http://www.visa.com
CONTACT:
Tom Hershenson of General Magic, 408-774-4343, [email protected];
or
Manny Vara of Sony Electronics, 408-955-5142,
or
[email protected]; or Greg Jones of Visa Interactive, 415-432-2753, or [email protected]