SCMM Scm Microsystems (MM)

ISMANING, Germany, June 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SCM Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ:SCMMNASDAQ:PrimeNASDAQ:Standard:NASDAQ:SMY), a leading provider of solutions that open the Digital World, announced today the company plans to focus on the fast growing contactless technology market, an important extension to their current strategy. Last week the company announced its first major contactless initiative -- a Memorandum of Understanding with Sony Corporation to supply contactless FeliCa(R) physical access control terminals for international markets. SCM will also develop technology to support Near Field Communication (NFC) in its readers and terminals, including its FeliCa products. NFC is a short-range wireless connectivity technology that enables contactless payment and information exchange with mobile phones and other consumer devices. NFC is designed to support existing contactless payment standards, so that contactless infrastructures being installed today will work with NFC-enabled mobile phones in the future. SCM announced its first NFC-enabled product, a USB dongle for mobile payment applications, in April of this year. "The use of contactless technology is expanding rapidly across several sectors and regions, creating significant new demand for contactless reader and terminal solutions," said Felix Marx, chief executive officer from SCM Microsystems. "Targeting contactless technology plays on SCM's strengths and expands the potential market we can reach." "NFC is one contactless technology with the potential to satisfy the broad-based requirements for connectivity between devices as new networking continues to reshape a broad range of consumer and business transactions and communications," said Louis Bianchin, senior analyst and program manager, RFID with technology research firm Venture Development Corporation. "This market, while embryonic today, should be around $1 billion by 2012, and should benefit from the supply of contactless readers and terminals solutions integrating ISO 14443, FeliCa and fully supporting NFC functionality." The Sony announcement is a good example of how significant the contactless opportunity is for SCM. Japan is the most developed contactless market in the world, with more than 250 million electronic payment cards and FeliCa-enabled mobile phones in circulation today. There is a large and growing demand for readers and payment terminals that work with the FeliCa de facto standard. Contactless technology is already broadly used in the government, financial and enterprise sectors, and new programs are continually being rolled out. For example, many countries are now issuing new electronic passports that include contactless technology for added security. Transit operators worldwide are moving to contactless fare payment, and in Japan, the United States and many other countries bankcard issuers and merchants are implementing contactless interface technology to help speed up payment transactions for consumers. SCM plans to address the market as it always has, by creating a broad range of high-quality readers and terminals that support the different contactless standards demanded by customers. In some cases, SCM will also combine multiple standards into a single device to make it more universally useful and solve compatibility or conflicting standards issues between vendors or regions. "The timing for entering the contactless market is optimum for SCM, because the standards are now well defined and many programs are now underway. The focus is moving toward growing the acceptance base, which always creates demand for a variety of different devices very similar to those SCM has traditionally manufactured," said Marx. "We are extremely well positioned to play a significant role in this emerging market, with a broad range of contactless solutions already deployed worldwide and a highly experienced team with extensive know-how in contactless technology." About SCM Microsystems SCM Microsystems is a leading provider of solutions that open the Digital World by enabling people to conveniently access digital content and services. The company develops, markets and sells the industry's broadest range of contact and contactless smart card reader technology for secure PC, payment systems, network and physical access, and digital media readers for transfer of digital content to OEM customers in the government, financial, enterprise, consumer electronics and photographic equipment markets worldwide. Global headquarters are in Ismaning, Germany. For additional information, visit the SCM Microsystems web site at http://www.scmmicro.com/ NOTE: This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These include our statements contained above regarding our plans to focus on the contactless technology market, including our plans to develop NFC technology readers and terminals; and our belief that we can expand our potential market by focusing on these technologies. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties which may cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated herein. There is no assurance that we will be successful in developing or introducing additional NFC or other contactless readers or terminals to the market. Any products that we do develop may not be competitive with other products in the market. Even with new contactless product offerings, the market for contactless technologies may not grow as anticipated, and we may not be able to expand the market for our products. For a discussion of further risks and uncertainties related to our business, please refer to our public company reports, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007 and subsequent reports, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. FeliCa is a registered trademark of Sony Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. DATASOURCE: SCM Microsystems, Inc. CONTACT: Annika Oelsner, +49-89-9595-5220, , or Darby Dye, +1-510-249-4883, , both of SCM Microsystems, Inc. Web site: http://www.scmmicro.com/

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