OVERLAND PARK, Kan.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nearly 60 percent of consumers plan to purchase gift cards – the top item on consumers’ shopping lists – this year, according to Accenture’s 2014 Holiday Shopping Survey1. Just in time for the holiday gift-giving season, Boost Mobile and Sprint customers can easily purchase and send eGift cards to their friends and family right from the Boost Mobile Wallet and Sprint Money Express applications.
Boost Mobile Wallet and Sprint Money Express, powered by Wipit, provide consumers an easy way to make payments from their smartphone or prepaid Visa® or MasterCard® with no credit check or monthly fees. Using these apps, consumers can load checks for instant access to cash, get paid faster with direct deposit, pay more than 3,500 billers, send money worldwide, quickly transfer money, and more right from their smartphone. Users can add funds to their account with free bank transfers, direct deposit or at Boost Mobile Wallet authorized retailers.
Consumers can also buy eGift cards from top retailers in gaming, entertainment, casual dining and apparel, making holiday gifting easy and convenient. These retailers include Amazon, Babies R Us, Bass Pro Shops and JCPenney. To view a complete list of eGift card retailers, download the Sprint Money Express or Boost Mobile Wallet mobile app, or visit wipit.me/boost or wipit.me/sprint. Additional retailers will be added continuously. The eGift card will be sent as an email to the recipient, along with a personalized message from the sender.
“The addition of eGift cards to these two applications makes them even more robust and now takes care of even more of our consumers’ financial and everyday needs,” said Kevin McGinnis, vice president of Pinsight Media+, a division of Sprint. “Customers who use these apps are saving money, paying their bills, transferring funds, and can now use their extra cash stored in the apps to easily send their family or friends a gift.”
eGift card functionality will be added to existing versions of the mobile apps as a free update. Both apps are free to download, sign up is free, and they use the data in the customer’s plan. Boost Mobile Wallet is available for Boost Mobile customers for iOS in the App Store and for Android devices in Google Play. Sprint Money Express is available for Sprint customers with Android devices in Google Play.
The app icons also appear on Boost Mobile and Sprint Android smartphones. Clicking on the icon takes the customer to the app store to download the app. For customers currently using these apps, updates (including the eGift card feature) will happen automatically or customers will be prompted with a notification to update the app.
About Sprint
Sprint (NYSE: S) is a communications services company dedicated to delivering the best value in wireless. Sprint served 55 million customers as of Sept. 30, 2014, and is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including the first wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; leading no-contract brands including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, and Assurance Wireless; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. Sprint has been named to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) North America for the last four years. You can learn more and visit Sprint at www.sprint.com or www.facebook.com/sprint and www.twitter.com/sprint.
About Boost Mobile
Established in 2002, Boost Mobile, part of the Sprint Prepaid Group, redefines value for wireless consumers with more data for less and no long-term commitment to a subscription contract. Boost Mobile operates on the Nationwide Sprint 3G Network for data and the Nationwide Sprint Network for voice services, each reaching more than 281 million people, and on the nationwide Sprint 4G LTE Network, which reaches more than 250 million people. Its award-winning customer service has been recognized more than eight times.
About Wipit
Wipit provides integrated mobile payments, financial services and prepaid debit card convenience to underbanked consumers. The company works with Sprint to innovate mobile payments with the co-branded Sprint Money Express and Boost Mobile Wallet mobile money services. Wipit has commercial partnerships with and has been invested in by Euronet Worldwide (NASDAQ: EEFT), H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE: HRB), as well as Core Innovation Capital. For more information, visit http://www.wipit.me.
1 2014 Accenture Holiday Shopping Survey, October 2014 - U.S. Results
