The services include Citi Shopper, PayPass Stickers and the PayPass Locator. The Citi Shopper application is currently being offered as a free beta version and available on the iPhone, BlackBerry and Android.

“More and more Americans are relying on their mobile devices to access information,” said Paul Galant, CEO of Citi Cards, New York. “At Citi, we’re continually looking for ideas and solutions that are the right fit for our customers and their lifestyle, based on what they tell us that they need and our anticipation of their future needs. 

“With Citi Shopper, we’re enhancing their shopping experience by finding great deals for them and helping them better manage their money,” he said. “And Citi Shopper is just one product within a suite of new advanced mobile products from Citi Cards.

Citi is a global financial services company with approximately 200 million customer accounts.

Mobile shopping
Citi Shopper searches inventory information of more than 2 billion products and delivers local offers and deals on products from electronics to apparel, as well as compares prices on products and provides users maps to nearby retailers.

In addition, consumers get reminders of offers, rewards and benefits specific to their Citi credit cards.

Consumers can browse deals and promotions at major local and online retailers, be reminded of Citi credit card-specific rewards, benefits and offers, search local store inventory and sort products by price or distance.

Additionally, consumers can view product details, images, availability and a map to the nearest location, save products and promotions into a mobile shopping list, share finds with friends and family and contact participation retailers with just one click.

“Consumers are doing more and more activities on their mobile phones,” Mr. Galant said. “With our innovative mobile products, we’re targeting those consumers who are on the go and looking to get local information and deals as well as pay for purchases – quickly and conveniently, whenever and wherever they are.”

Money, money, money
In addition to Citi Shopper, the company introduced MasterCard PayPass stickers, which can be affixed to the back of mobile devices and used to make contactless payments at any retailer that accepts PayPass transactions. 

Citi will also release a PayPass locator application this summer that searches and maps the nearest PayPass merchants.

“Citi Shopper is available now for download at http://citishopper.citi.com, the App store, or on the iTunes Store,” Mr. Galant said. “Citi Shopper can be used on the most popular smartphones and is available on four platforms: iPhone, Blackberry, Android and WAP.
 
“The Citi Shopper launch will be supported with email marketing to customers, as well as a public relations campaign,” he said.