14 DAY TRIAL // Espoo, Finland-based mobile phone maker Nokia announced today that it sold the shares it held in Venyon Oy to Giesecke & Devrient (G&D), which now becomes the only shareholder in the company. Venyon, a leading trusted service manager (TSM) in the mobile near field communication (NFC) market, has been created in 2006, and G&D held the majority of shares in it.
“This move to acquire full ownership of Venyon is another key milestone in G&D's strategy. It will enable us to continue to expand our position as a provider of secure mobile phone solutions - from SIM and secure microSD cards through software to the secure administration of critical applications on the mobile phone,” emphasized Karsten Ottenberg, CEO of Giesecke & Devrient. “The market for NFC solutions is expected to develop steadily. Venyon has built up leading service expertise in the NFC ecosystem, which will also be useful to us in other business sectors.”
NFC offers secure mobile phone applications through combining smart card and contactless technologies. Venyon is focused on delivering trusted services “to provision and manage applications,” including credit cards or transit tickets, on a mobile phone user's NFC-enabled device. The company offers TSM services in-between the carriers that provide NFC-capable SIM cards and the providers of services on the NFC market, including transit companies and banks.
“Nokia is proud to be a supporter and provide multiple enabling roles for NFC, one of them having been our investment in Venyon,” said Mark Selby, VP, Industry Collaborations, Nokia. “As the market for NFC is now maturing, the time is right for us to focus our efforts even more on NFC-enabled mobile devices and solutions designed to support NFC. We believe Venyon's crucial role as a trusted third party working with mobile operators and service providers is best supported through full ownership by Giesecke & Devrient, who are recognized experts in secure applications in this market.”
The demand for NFC services has been on the rise all around the world. Venyon benefits both from an industry-leading expertise and from G&D's position in the SIM and secure applications market, and can deliver this way great TSM services to banks, transit operators, wireless carriers, and other companies that want to commercialize NFC services.