By Mobile payments is growing, and it’s growing fast. It’s nothing new, having been a part of Japanese culture for quite some time, but widespread adoption is beginning to take off and it’s set to be a focal point for device manufacturers, software vendors, carriers, banks and retailers going forward. So just how are things expected to look once it really takes off?
G+ has created an infographic that shows what analysts believe what will happen as early as 2013. They’ve also shown the many players in this space and what their pros and cons are, as well as who their partners are for their initiatives. That bit gets me a little worried. Fragmentation isn’t just an issue in software and hardware – the issue will soon spill over to mobile commerce.
If you are on Sprint, you’re stuck with Google Wallet which only supports Mastercard. Considering Visa is the most widely-used plastic vendor, this alienates a good chunk of Sprint’s userbase. The other big 3 carriers decided to go with ISIS, who support Visa, Mastercard and Discover. Visa and American express will have their own offerings, but obviously box their competitors out. Although Mastercard is the only financial institute with true Google Wallet integration, Google’s introducing a feature that will allow pretty much any card to work with it.
The main issue here seems to be with Sprint who decided to go against the grain and partner up with Google in a time where the others weren’t confident in Google. I questioned their thought process in my Google Wallet pre-announcement article here. Whatever the case is, Sprint has put their eggs into the Google basket and the only way it can pay off for both sides is if ISIS isn’t technologically capable of delivering a compelling mobile payments experience.
Unfortunately, ISIS hasn’t publicized their plans quite like Google has. You can find more details about what Google Wallet will be bringing and the vast potential to be had in Google’s open-minded strategy in our announcement post here. Anyway, enough blabbering:
Hopefully Google will support Visa soon.
Ok…the first graphic says that by 2014 50% of cell phones will have NFC. Here’s what I think when I hear that:
1. Will there be NFC in dumbphones?
2. If not, what percentage of the overall mobile market do smartphones represent, and how fast is it growing? Even if smartphones represented 50% of the overall market by 2014, that would mean ALL smartphones would have to have NFC technology. I haven’t heard anything about this technology being put into dumbphones.
I just think it’s a mighty bold claim, but maybe I’m missing something.
Aparantly 1 in 3 Americans currently own a smartphone, and that’s expected to rise to 1 in 2 by 2011. It’s not going to nullify money any time soon either, so nobody is going to be left in the dark. But with the addition of mobile deals, etc… how long before the people using cash feel a little left out and jump on board? Waves of the future don’t come because a company tells you to jump on board, but rather because it revolutionizes how we live our lives.
* I mean’t end of 2011 by the way
I read an article yesterday, don’t remember where it was from though, that said that Smartphones are now outselling dumb phones.
I actually wrote about this (or very similar) in my own blog post comparing various payment models.
There is a lot more going on than just NFC, Google Wallet, and ISIS. There is also consumer self checkout (e.g. my company, TotalTab), branded apps (e.g. Starbucks), POS replacements (like Square), and more.
It’s definitely an interesting time in the mobile payments space – there is a lot of room for shakeup, with yesterday’s acquisition of Zong by eBay being another great example.