RE: An analyst's view of the payment industry

I’m just getting back from vacation and haven’t gotten through all my emails but I saw this note and wanted to jump in…

The US is currently in the process of migrating to EMV, and those EMV terminals being put in merchant locations also accept NFC payments. So before long (October 2015 is the merchant deadline, although that will probably be extended), many merchants will be equipped to accept NFC payments, which could spur the movement…

Also, not that this is everyone, but I use Isis mobile wallet and think it’s pretty cool I don’t have to shuffle through my backpack for my wallet and then shuffle through that for the right card to pay. When I used Isis (which automatically puts any relevant coupons with the purchase) at Toys R Us, the cashier was amazed… Paying with a phone is “cool” and as soon as people see the technology in use they’re usually pretty excited about it. Granted I’m not sure there’s much reason (since there aren’t many coupons currently available in the mobile wallet) besides that it looks futuristic…

From: Ricardo Varela [mailto:phobeo@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 30, 2014 10:28 AM
To: Anders Rundgren
Cc: Web Payments CG
Subject: Re: An analyst's view of the payment industry

The problem with NFC is that it is an "acquirer level" technology that requires changes both from the merchants and the technology providers point of view... Merchants do not seem very interested in changing their current Point of Sale systems to upgrade to this (its money for nothing at the current volumes of use), and technology providers are not exactly rushing to it either. Combine that with a general disinterest from the public and... Too many people to convince at once!

---
ricardo



On Thu, Jan 30, 2014 at 10:18 AM, Anders Rundgren <anders.rundgren.net@gmail.com<mailto:anders.rundgren.net@gmail.com>> wrote:
http://think-banking.org/thinknew/index.php/510-our-10-boldest-predictions-for-the-digital-payments-industry-in-2014


I'm personally unconvinced that NFC is dead.  It is the idea that operators will replace banks which died.
An "untangled" NFC such as featured in Android "KitKat" may revitalize the NFC.

Wallets is another strange thing.  To me a wallet is a device/function holding payment objects.  Converting the holder into a business seems like an awfully crummy scheme.
Well, physical wallets cost a few bucks but a SW counterpart is just a bunch of bytes and shouldn't cost anything.

OTOH, the only thing we know about predicting the future, is that it has proven to be impossible.
But we all try, don't we? :-)

Anders



--
Ricardo Varela -  http://twitter.com/phobeo

"Though this be madness, yet there's method in 't"

"This communication is intended solely for the addressee and is confidential and not for third party unauthorized distribution"