NEW ORLEANS – A Citi executive at the International CITI Wireless 2012 conference said that in order for the mobile wallet to succeed, it has to be simple, ubiquitous and compelling.

MasterCard is the latest company to throw its hat into the ring for digital payments with a new suite of services intended to simplify the use of making purchases on smartphones.

A new study from MasterCard found that although the United States is ready for mobile payments, nine of the 10 countries most set up for the technology are in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

Citi and MasterCard are encouraging consumers to make the mobile device their new wallet through an advertising campaign that educates them about Google Wallet.

MasterCard has rolled out a new global initiative that aims to help financially underserved consumers access their financial information via mobile.

MasterCard is running an NFC pilot program at movie theaters in Australia that lets consumers pay for food and drink items via their mobile devices.

MasterCard has rolled out an ad campaign that centers around the ease of its PayPass and Google Wallet mobile service.

Google is releasing the first version of its Google Wallet app to Sprint Nexus S 4G phones and offering a $10 free bonus to users who sign up before the end of the year.

Isis can now count Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover among its partners as its looks to bring mobile commerce to a broad cross-section of U.S. consumers.

MasterCard is sponsoring Wired’s June iPad edition and helping consumers instantly purchase products via the pages of the digital magazine.