News from the Wire

Grocery Shopper Went in for Milk and Bread and Ended Up with a New Toyota Prius

Tuesday, April 19, 2005 — 12:17:43 (EDT)

PORTLAND, Ore., April 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Portland resident Jennifer Page%%Nnever imagined that a quick trip to Albertsons for milk and bread would pay%%Noff so much. It was with this purchase, using Pay By Touch, that she%%Nultimately won a new Toyota Prius Hybrid car.%%N %%N"I just can't believe I've won," Page said. "I was instantly intrigued by%%Nthe Pay By Touch technology -- and by the convenience of not having to fish%%Nthrough my purse at the checkout, but I never dreamed I would be the one to%%Nwin the Prius!"%%N %%NPage was one of the first customers to enroll in Pay By Touch at the Lake%%NOswego Albertsons -- one of four Portland-area Albertsons stores to offer the%%Ntechnology, which allows shoppers to pay for groceries with the touch of a%%Nfinger. For the winning transaction, she simply scanned her finger, entered%%Nher seven-digit code, and accessed her existing checking account. Since Pay By%%NTouch is a networked service, Page was also able to use the consumer biometric%%Npayment service at other participating Albertsons stores near her home.%%N %%N"We are always looking for new ways to make our customers' lives easier,"%%Nsaid Mike Withers, vice president of operations for Albertsons' northwest%%Ndivision. "By offering Pay By Touch at the check-out, we are giving our%%Ncustomers another tool to enhance their shopping experience. This innovative%%Ntechnology is secure and simple to use, and it greatly speeds up the check-out%%Nprocess for our customers."%%N %%NThe one-time Pay By Touch enrollment is simple and takes just a couple of%%Nminutes. Shoppers can enroll at participating Albertsons stores, or by%%Nvisiting www.paybytouch.com. Shoppers select the accounts they want to enroll:%%NExpress Checking, which is a direct electronic withdrawal from an existing%%Nchecking account, and/or a Discover Card. The Pay By Touch technology is%%Nhighly secure and does not store actual fingerprints. Instead, it creates a%%Nset of 40 data points that cannot be reverse engineered into a fingerprint.%%NThe data points are then encrypted and stored at secure IBM data centers.%%N %%NSince the Pay By Touch technology was introduced in four Portland-area%%NAlbertsons stores in January, thousands of Discover Card and Express Checking%%Ntransactions have been authenticated with a simple finger scan at the point of%%Nsale.%%N %%N"Albertsons customers like Jennifer Page are wholeheartedly embracing Pay%%NBy Touch," said Shannon Riordan, director of marketing of Pay By Touch.%%N"Besides being incredibly convenient to use, Pay By Touch provides shoppers%%Nwith a high level of security and privacy. With Pay By Touch, no one but you%%Ncan access your financial accounts."%%N %%NIn the Portland area, Pay By Touch is offered in the Lake Oswego, West%%NLinn, Tigard, and Oregon City Albertsons stores. To find locations outside of%%NPortland, visit www.paybytouch.com.%%N%%NAbout Pay By Touch%%NPay By Touch is a free consumer biometric payment service that allows%%Nshoppers to quickly and securely pay for purchases or cash checks using a%%Nfinger scan linked to their personal identification information, financial%%Naccounts, and loyalty programs. Pay By Touch. The privately held company%%Noffers retailers a complete payment solution, including front-end biometric%%Nauthentication and age verification, to back-end ACH and credit card and debit%%Ncard payment processing. Pay By Touch has more than two-dozen U.S. issued%%Npatents covering token-less biometric transactions. For additional%%Ninformation, visit www.paybytouch.com.%%N%%NAbout Discover Financial Services%%NDiscover Financial Services, a business unit of Morgan Stanley%%N(NYSE: MWD), operates the Discover Card with more than 50 million Cardmembers,%%Nthe Discover Network with more than 4 million merchant and cash access%%Nlocations and the PULSE ATM/Debit network currently serving over 4,000 banks,%%Ncredit unions and savings institutions. For more information, visit%%Nwww.discovercard.com, www.discovernetwork.com or www.pulse-eft.com.%%N%%NSource: Company Press Release

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Source: Company press release.