MOBILE PAYMENT EXPERTS GATHER IN CHICAGO AS MOBILE TRANSACTIONS LAUDED AS DREAM-COME-TRUE FOR RETAILERS

Mobilizing Retail is the Buzz During This Three-Day Mobile Payments Conference

CHICAGO—August 25, 2015— Country Music Star Rick Monroe, former Sears retail and commerce guru Mario Di Prizio, and Javelin analyst Nick Holland will join fellow mobile payment experts Richard Love and Greg Wilfahrt from AP Technology on stage next week at the 2015 Mobile Payments Conference, in Chicago. Their session, slated for September 2 is titled, “Mobile Payments: The Making of a Retail Fairy Tale.” 

​The Mobile Payments Conference, Sponsored by Mobile Marketing & Technology Magazine, attracts an executive level audience from all parts of the mobile commerce ecosystem. It showcases the latest mobile payment innovations and mobile wallet solutions, in addition to unveiling the latest services, standards and implementation strategies for attendees. The theme of this three-day event is “mobilizing retail,” with one of the conferences most anticipated sessions featuring insights from innovators that are impacting tomorrow’s mobile payments channels, today:

• Richard Love is CEO of AP Technology. A pioneer in the field of payments for more than 25 years, Love is the holder of several patents. His company’s software processes over $30 billion annually for AP Technology’s customers. In September 2015, Richard Love’s AP Technology will unveil the latest in its product suite, a cloud-based payment innovation and mobile application that is powered by the Company’s APeChecks platform.

• Nick Holland is Head of Mobile for Javelin Strategy and Research. An internationally renowned analyst, Mr. Holland has spent the last decade analyzing and reporting on the intersections of mobile, payments, retail, and transactional security. Nick Holland’s insights have appeared in/on news outlets that include The Wall Street Journal, CNN Money, NPR's "Marketplace," Forbes, Fortune, Business Week, Time Magazine, and others.

• Having performed at venues throughout the world, singer/songwriter Rick Monroe is one of Country Music’s most prolific ambassadors. Monroe is a passionate first-adopter of technologies that will share his expertise in utilizing mobile payments to better connect with fans, while monetizing merchandise as never before. Hits that include, “Fires Out” and “Midnight Rider” make Rick Monroe a frequent resident on Billboard’s music chart.

• Mario Di Prizio is the former VP of Mobile Commerce and Omni-channel Retail Solutions for Sears Holding Company (Sears, Roebuck and Company and Kmart Corporation). He also served Motorola as its Chief Architect and CTO for their Converged Enterprise Communications Division. Mr. Di Prizio is a technologist that has thus far developed and successfully brought to market more than 150 products, from mobile apps, eCommerce sites, RFID solutions, payment solutions, and enterprise wireless mobile solutions.

• Greg Wilfahrt is Chief Mobility and Marketing Officer at AP Technology. Greg Wilfahrt will moderate the MPC mobile payments panel, which provided technical and real-life mobile payment perspectives on ACH adoption. Immersed in mobile technology for more than 15 years, Greg co-founded a wireless company with nearly 60 million users, achieving mobile billing integration with wireless carriers in 180+ countries. He has appeared on/in CNBC Europe, FOX News, NY Times, Forbes, Businessweek, USA Today, and more news outlets.

 
Mobility has made the idiom “dream-come-true” especially relevant for retailers, in that that there are now more mobile devices on the planet than there are people. These wireless phones, pads, and tablets are being utilized worldwide by businesses and consumers as mobile payment stations, representing new and significant revenue opportunities for retailers that are seeking to cash-in on anytime, anywhere transactions.
 
“While it is still early days for mobile payments in many respects, the disruption of mobile devices as the conduit connecting online and offline worlds is clearly not to be underestimated,” says Javelin’s Nick Holland. “Retailers that want to remain relevant in this new world need to embrace mobile strategies now to prepare for more seismic disruptions to the landscape that are inevitably coming.” 
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Richard Love of AP Technology agrees that game-changing advances in payments are imminent for retailers and consumers alike, and that now is the time to pave the future for payments perfection. “It is the dawning of a new and better way to pay through mobile devices, with merchants having an opportunity to dictate and shape the transaction experience,” said Love. “Security is top-of-mind for all, as is the transaction experience. During this conference, we’ll look forward to discussing best practices, multi-layered security, and even a change in transactional process between payor and payee that we believe will result in a drastic reduction in fraud and theft.”
 
Country Music star Rick Monroe joins the MPC panel as an entertainer that is using mobile strategies to better connect him with his fans around the world. Like Nick Holland and Richard Love, Monroe sees global changes at-hand for retailers and consumers, as mobile payments become the way to do commerce and to connect with audiences. “The ability for me to distribute music and to sell merchandise globally, combined with the opportunity to create and manage personal connections with fans is something that was not previously possible,” Monroe stated. “This new use of mobile technology, coupled with the ability to transact in non-traditional ways means that the music industry—along with every other industry on the planet, is forever changing.”
 
As someone that helped shape mobile commerce and technology at iconic companies such as Sears, K-Mart and Motorola, retail guru Mario Di Prizio says he is looking forward to the 2015 Mobile Payments Conference as a way to educate retailers on mobile strategies that retain and monetize. “Creation of a mobile strategy is something that needs to happen immediately, if it is not already in place,” said Di Prizio. “For retailers that are looking for a ‘silver bullet,’ they need look no further than mobile payments and mobile strategies as the means to take revenues to new heights.”
 
The 2015 Mobile Payments Conference will be a unique opportunity for attendees to learn from experts in various mobile disciplines that are already utilizing next-generation technologies and strategies in real-world situations. “We hope that the end result of our panel is that retailers are able to embrace mobile payments as a way to give their story a happy ending,” remarked session moderator, Greg Wilfahrt.