The innovative service is accessible from any compatible web-enabled mobile phone. To subscribe, consumers need to identify themselves as MasterCard cardholders via an online connection on a computer through the new service’s website, and then create a unique user profile.
MasterCard Nearby offers a new way for issuers, merchants and consumers to communicate and strengthen relationships with one another. It also delivers heightened convenience to busy MasterCard cardholders on the go, said Tatiana Mulry, vice president of the mobile/wireless center of excellence at MasterCard Worldwide. As this is an opt-in program, we are able to tailor it to the needs of individual cardholders. The more they ask for, the more MasterCard Nearby can deliver. We are also actively working with issuers and merchants to develop customized versions of MasterCard Nearby.
The service was developed in partnership with Go2, a mobile, local search and content network. MasterCard Nearby users will be able to view the requested information on the mobile internet or delivered to the customer’s phone via an SMS text message. Ongoing access is then available directly on the phone.
Consumers have the ability to search for ATMs and merchant locations in the US as well as ATMs in several countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and the UK. Cardholders have come to expect a wide variety of services, rewards and offers when using their MasterCard payment cards, and we want to translate that experience to the mobile phone environment, added Ms Mulry.
