Date: Tue, 28 Dec 1999 15:01:58 -0500
From: Charles Evans <CEvans@OmniPay.net>
Reply-To: CEvans@QuickGold.net
To: media.relations@QuickGold.net
Subject: PCS/WAP mobile phone interface to e-gold
PRESS RELEASE
Border-free mCommerce Arrives: Not with a Bang, but with a Dial Tone
G&SR announces release of PCS interface to e-gold. WAP to follow.
Wilmington, DE, USA (20 December 1999) - There were no reporters, no
flashbulbs, no cheering crowds, but the long-anticipated arrival of
secure worldwide mobile commerce (mCommerce) came with the simple
click of a button on a mobile phone in the last two weeks of 1999.
Now, any e-gold user anywhere in the world can spend e-gold, check
his or her balance, and view account history from any web-enabled
PCS handset. Support for WAP phones will follow in January 2000.
Building on more than three years of eCommerce success, Gold & Silver
Reserve Inc. (G&SR) demonstrated the new e-gold interface for PCS
telephones at http://mobile.e-gold.com.
"So far, we've invested everything in development, not marketing.
The result is that this interface is an enhancement to a deployed
and operational system, not the sole feature and marketing ploy of a
system to be developed." says Barry Downey, co-founder and General
Counsel of G&SR.
Until now e-gold users in more than fifty countries have accessed
their accounts via a web browser, which has been a challenge for
e-gold's point-of-sale adoption. Now, wireless e-gold account access
can accompany users into stores, restaurants, or any other place
where a mobile phone can be used.
"Point-of-purchase payment is the killer app of mCommerce" asserts
Charles Evans, G&SR's Executive Vice President. "Use the web browser
on your PC to purchase books at Amazon.com, but use your mobile phone
to beam payment to your local bookseller. Now brick and mortar
businesses are able to enjoy the instantaneous transaction clearing
and lower cost of accepting payment in e-gold."
The ability to settle payments in seconds over PCS and WAP handsets,
directly where transactions are made, will change the nature of trade
radically. Wireless mobile commerce is expected to surpass wired
eCommerce within a very few years, particularly in Europe and the
developing world, where Internet access has not been as widespread as
in North America, but is catching up by 'leap-frogging' directly into
wireless access.
Spokespersons for G&SR intend mobile access to e-gold to contribute to
the growth of a worldwide economy that is not tied to any of the three
'supercurrencies'. "Our goal is simple," says G&SR's founder and
President, Douglas Jackson, "We will be the money of choice for the five
billion people who use currencies other than dollars, euro, and yen.
This interface puts e-gold's secure, low-cost, worldwide payment system
within easy reach of anyone who has access to a web-enabled phone."
----
Accessibility:
The e-gold PCS interface can be accessed through e-gold Ltd.'s website
at http://mobile.e-gold.com with any PCS mobile telephone handset that
is subscribed to SprintPCS (USA) or Bell Mobility (Canada). The WAP
interface will follow in January 2000.
----
About e-gold:
e-gold is a family of electronic currencies 100% backed by gold, silver,
platinum, and palladium. As such, a quantity of e-gold constitutes
title to a precise weight (fine) of precious metal.
e-gold Ltd., a Nevis corporation, serves as bailee for the inventory of
bullion bars backing the e-gold currencies. In the interest of
providing a sound governance model, e-gold, Ltd. delegates the critical
functions of escrow, metal repository, and e-metal mint to independent
third parties.
Currently, the number of e-gold accounts is growing at 10 percent per
month. As of mid-December, 1999 there was approximately US$ 3 million
worth of e-metal, circulating among more than 11,000 e-gold accounts.
The Financial Times has referred to e-gold as "the only electronic
currency to achieve critical mass on the Web."
e-gold accounts may be created, free of charge, at http://www.e-gold.com.
----
About Gold & Silver Reserve, Inc:
Founded in 1996, Gold & Silver Reserve, Inc. (G&SR) makes a market in
the e-gold family of currencies, supporting exchange from/to USD, JPY,
GBP, FFR, EUR (Q1,2000), DEM, CHF, CAD, and AUD. Among its innovations,
G&SR facilitates the ability for e-gold account holders to pay entities
outside the e-gold economy via a hybrid currency exchange transaction
appropriately named "OutExchange with Directed Payment" (OEDP).
e-gold(TM) and e-metal(TM) are registered trademarks of e-gold Ltd.
All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
----
For additional information contact:
Gold & Silver Reserve, Inc.
103 Foulk Road
Suite 202
Wilmington, DE 19803
USA
tel: +1 800-909-6590
pcs: +1 321-223-8703
fax: +1 302-994-4750
email: CEvans@OmniPay.net
main website:
http://www.e-gold.com
pcs/wap website:
http://mobile.e-gold.com