Verizon Wireless Selects Firethorn as Strategic Partner for Mobile Banking Services

BASKING RIDGE, N.J., and ATLANTA, Oct. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Mobile
banking and payments enabler Firethorn Holdings, LLC
(http://www.firethornmobile.com) and Verizon Wireless, the leading
wireless company with the nation's most reliable wireless voice and
data network, announced today a new strategic relationship that will
provide Verizon Wireless customers with the ability to easily interact
with their financial institutions using Firethorn's mobile financial
services application.

The relationship provides a unique opportunity for financial
institutions assessing their mobile strategies. With Verizon Wireless'
mobile banking offering, powered by Firethorn, customers will be able
to access and manage their financial relationships while on-the-go for
a seamless, real-time and secure user experience. In addition, Verizon
Wireless and Firethorn will team with financial institution partners to
conduct comprehensive marketing and consumer education programs aimed
at aiding and encouraging adoption.

Verizon senior vice president of consumer products Jim Straight
said, "After carefully researching the marketplace and surveying
consumer preferences, we concluded Firethorn will provide a secure,
easy-to-use and flexible mobile banking solution that will deliver a
superior user experience for our customers. We expect these mobile
banking services will be valuable to our customers, paving the way for
us to introduce more comprehensive payment capabilities."

As financial institutions join the Firethorn Network that already
includes Wachovia, SunTrust Bank, Regions Financial, BancorpSouth,
Synovus among others, Verizon Wireless customers will be able to access
these relationships in a simple and secure fashion. Verizon Wireless
plans to pre-load the Firethorn application on devices in the future.

"Firethorn's larger vision is to provide consumers with a safe,
secure and consistent access point to their financial information
through their ever- present mobile device," explained Firethorn
chairman and chief executive officer Tripp Rackley. "Viewing balances,
making transfers and paying bills is the first step. Bringing new and
exciting functionality to the mobile handset, such as the ability to
view and redeem loyalty points, reload gift cards and perform purchases
at the point of sale, including contactless payments, is core to our
mobile financial services strategy."

Rackley continued, "Today's announcement with Verizon Wireless is
an important step toward broad adoption of mobile financial services --
delivered through the Firethorn solution. Together with Verizon
Wireless and our financial institution partners, we are helping to
define the market for mobile financial services."

About Verizon Wireless

Verizon Wireless operates the nation's most reliable wireless voice
and data network, serving 62.1 million customers. The largest U.S.
wireless company and largest wireless data provider, based on revenues,
Verizon Wireless is headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with 67,000
employees nationwide. The company is a joint venture of Verizon
Communications and Vodafone . Find more information on the Web at
www.verizonwireless.com. To preview and request broadcast-quality video
footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log
on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at
www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia.

About Firethorn

Firethorn is the mobile banking and payments enabler supported by
the nation's leading financial institutions and wireless carriers. The
Firethorn solution is a single, secure, certified application embedded
on select wireless handsets, which allows users to view account
balances and history, transfer funds and receive and pay bills.
Firethorn connects financial institutions to wireless carriers, and
then manages the complex ecosystem of standards, interfaces and
platforms, as well as the training, consumer marketing and customer
service necessary to deliver seamless, secure mobile banking and
payments. Firethorn enables financial institutions to deliver branded
services to consumers via the mobile device, wireless carriers to
deliver consumer-convenient, mass-market applications to subscribers,
and mobile device users to access and add multiple financial
relationships with one password. Firethorn network partners gain the
ability to improve customer retention, generate revenue and enhance
brand equity. Firethorn is among IDC Research's "Emerging Mobile
Players to Watch" and one of Georgia's Most Innovative Technology
Companies. For more information on Firethorn, visit
www.firethornmobile.com or call 678.507.2500.