The merchant venture, called Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX), hasn't divulged specific plans. But in December, it announced that ExxonMobil had joined its ranks, bringing MCX membership to about 70 brands with 110,000 retail locations that process more than $1 trillion in payments a year. Other members include Walmart, Sears, Kohl's, Lowe's, Dunkin' Donuts and other national retailers.
Adding to the turf battle now building over mobile payments, a few national retailers who are MCX members have begun turning off the ability of recently-upgraded payment terminals to recognize NFC payments or read smart credit and debit cards embedded with a chip, according to several industry analysts and Isis CTO Scott Mulloy. So there are three groups: MCX, Isis, and Google Wallet. The latter two differ on how to implement NFC payments. The first doesn't want NFC. In 2013, NFC transactions across the US totalled $188m - £114m. Recall that NFC transactions in the UK in 2013 were £618m. NFC just isn't happening in the US.]]>
Since Wallet no longer requires NFC, there's no reason for it to be Android-only anymore. We wouldn't be surprised to see an iOS app (assuming Apple allows it) sometime soon. Almost a year ago, Google set up an invitation page for a version of Google Wallet that would work on Android, iOS, and "other" devices, but nothing ever came of the project. Intriguing that this would happen just as Apple rolls out AirDrop (Bluetooth-range data links) and Google buys NFC replacement Bump.]]>
“It’s definitely troublesome for any developer looking to support NFC that it is not in the iPhone,” said Jordan McKee, an analyst with researcher Yankee Group. “It’s not going to reach massive scale without Apple adopting NFC.”
Though nearly every other major smartphone maker has models with NFC capability, a recent Yankee Group survey found that just 18% of US consumers have such handsets, said McKee.
NFC has been slow to catch on in part because it isn’t any easier than a credit-card swipe, and because not enough stores accept the technology. According to Gartner analyst Mark Hung, fewer than 100,000 NFC-enabled readers are in use in the US, which compares with near-ubiquity for traditional credit-card readers.
Meanwhile, early NFC adopters like BlackBerry and Nokia have seen their handset sales decline. An effort by Google to create a digital wallet linked to NFC chips in some Sprint phones has slowed as other carriers favour their own NFC joint venture called Isis, which is only available in two US cities.
In a year's time, the US might see more commerce via fingerprint and Bluetooth than NFC. (That 18% for NFC-enabled handsets seems low.)]]>
Card are supposed to be within about 4cm of the front of the contactless terminal to work.
But some customers say payments have been taken from cards while in purses and wallets at much greater distances. The customers can't be certain that they never brought their wallets within that required 4cm or so. But it does point to a potential business making wallets with fine wire mesh weave to stop the cards being read by accident.]]>
Google is already sucking in that purchase data on many fronts — between Google Play payments, Google Checkout on the Web and also advertiser payments — in addition to the dedicated Google Wallet project.
But Wallet has been hampered by its focus on and use of NFC technology, which requires certain phones and special readers to make transactions. Google tried to make that easier by introducing a “cloud wallet” last year that accommodated existing credit and debit cards, but it could still go further toward mobile payments at the register without using NFC.
The dumping of the physical card plan was certainly abrupt, since it had actually been built into the new update of Google Wallet, said sources, and some partners had thought the search giant might be demoing it at the [Google I/O] event.]]>
"But this is my opinion. NFC was revolutionary 10 years ago but I think it just might have passed its sell-by date. Usability is a big question and we need to crack this.
"At Tesco, we focus entirely on the consumer relationship. We are developing a digital wallet, focusing on marketing and loyalty aspects, but payment may not enter the wallet. We have a payment system in place already and we don't want to disrupt it if it doesn't add any value.
"If it doesn't give us any value to adopt it, why should we do it?" Um.. because it's cool? Oh, no, he covered that.]]>
The Samsung Galaxy SIII is one of the most popular smartphones available in Canada.
A thief can simply walk by, pause and read the information through an unwitting person’s coat and wallet.
Then the information can be sent to another phone.
CBC News used it to buy a Coke.
But it could be just as easily used to buy a tank of gas or a new computer. And any NFC-enabled phone, of course. Maybe NFC = Nice For Criminals? The program says this method is being used by organised crime in Europe. The credit card companies say not to worry, they've not had any reports of cards being used in this way. Which raises the question: how would they know if they were? And if you think credit card companies wouldn't deny something that is going on - in the 1990s they used to allow people to top up mobile phones using any credit card. Any receipts used to include the full credit card number. Guess what happened for years - without being acknowledged?]]>
Since last August about 15,000 users have upgraded to NFC-based SIM cards that enable mobile payments, sources told the publication.
Singapore has adopted a model whereby the country’s three mobile operators – SingTel, M1 and Starhub – have built a shared NFC infrastructure with partners in a government-backed approach. Although the underlying infrastructure is shared, the operators offer competitive retail services which they launched last summer.
Of the 15,000 figure, around half paid to upgrade their SIM cards to NFC, while the rest were given the cards as part of promotions.]]>
The experiment was hailed a success by the companies involved, but although you can now use NFC credit cards on London buses, there is no sign yet of travellers being allowed to swipe in via their phones.
Still, the GSMA now believes there is enough momentum and enough real-world examples of the technology that millions of us will soon be using it - even if we don't know it.
So convinced were the organisers of Mobile World Congress that they encouraged visitors to get an NFC pass for speedier entry to an event where security involves showing photo ID.
Sadly, the people I met told me that it proved to be a slower way of getting in than the old fashioned non-NFC pass. (Thanks @challengingviews for the link.)]]>
What I’ve found: Although we’re a long way from where we were even a few months ago, being able to live completely walletless is still a long ways off. There are just too many entrenched forces — primarily government agencies, mom-and-pop stores, and anyone who requires an ID — for this change to happen quickly. However, on the mobile payments front, it’s pretty darn doable (and in fact, enjoyable) — at least if you live in a major metropolitan area. That's good, although it essentially means that vast swathes of the population don't have a hope of going cashless - even if they want to. (Also: healthier?)]]>
Everyone is expecting change to happen in weeks or months, but it will take time, says Osama Bedier, Google’s VP of Wallet and payments. “We will have mobile payments,” Bedier said, speaking at the Global Mobile Internet Conference in San Jose on Friday. Also says that mobile payments have to save time, or money, or both. Even so, he reckons half of transactions will be mobile within five years.]]>
But Apple executives chose the go-slow approach for now. An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment on the decision-making process.
Apple's head of world-wide marketing, Phil Schiller, in an interview last month, said that digital-wallet mobile-payment services are "all fighting over their piece of the pie, and we aren't doing that."…Last year, Apple engineers and executives considered some aggressive approaches to exploit that advantage when in-house debate over the market began in earnest. Google unveiled its Android payment system around the same time.
A small group began investigating whether the company should create a new service that would embed various payment methods into the iPhone or build a payment network of its own, according to people familiar with the matter
. Apple's head of iPhone software, Scott Forstall, was interested in the idea, say people familiar with the matter, and engineers on his team began to brainstorm a comprehensive "wallet app." The blockage: effect on NFC on battery life, and retailers' slow takeup in the US. Basically, it has it all ready - but is waiting for the market to arrive. (Subscription required.)]]>
So for the next month, I am going to live without credit cards, cash, transit passes, card-based ID, or just about anything else you’d find in a wallet. From Monday, Sept. 17 to Wednesday, Oct. 17, all of my daily monetary transactions will take place through smartphone-based technology and apps.
I’ll be outfitted with a Samsung Galaxy Nexus so I can use Google Wallet and NFC, as well as my regular iPhone. (Hey, I’m not ditching my wallet and my own phone!) Started 17 September. Let's watch how it goes. (Thanks @modelportfolio2003 for the link.)]]>
The idea of your purchases "going on your phone bill" completely ignores the fact that most people on the planet use PAYG prepaid and don't get a bill. Average outstanding prepay balance is something like $5, I believe. Most contract users won't want a sandwich or a flight on their phone bill - especially corporate expense managers. It just doesn't fit with our mental model of "phone bill", which many people don't both looking at anyway as they're on a standard plan. Linking purchases to credit cards stored virtually in your phone just seems pointlessly geeky & needs interruptive apps to be useful. I don't buy all this couponing & analytics hype either - it's just putting lipstick on the pig.]]>