Dear Readers,
Last week Google Wallet made headlines when a hacker app showed how to crack the mobile wallet. You probably won’t see the Wallet Cracker app in the Android Market anytime soon. That’s not because it doesn’t work; it actually works perfectly, which is the problem.
In a video posted by security firm Zvelo, the program exposes the pin number of a Google Wallet account within seconds. This is disappointing because NFC payment systems, of which Google Wallet is the most visible, are at a critical juncture (ti.me/wDSYhi). Google suspended the provisioning of pre-paid cards to their wallet while they fixed the hole and later in the week announced that everything was good to go again (bit.ly/yp7zHg)
But once the hack is in, the hack is in. The media jumped upon this particular bandwagon and heralded that (perhaps) the Google Wallet would be Googles next failure (cnet.co/Ad0vv4) following the likes of Google Labs, Google Power Meter and Google Health into oblivion. Especially as more Google Wallet developers are leaving the project. We're so quick to judge aren't we? Fact is, I don't think this is going to be the case and I am sure that the strategy will be re-vamped but let's remember that we're in an industry that is going through transition and growing pains and things don't always go according to plan (bit.ly/ytVYlX). As my mother used to say: "no use throwing the baby out with the bath water". The same could apply here. Let's not go overboard and get dramatic about this – yet.
Barclays were also in the news last week with their new Pingit app. We've covered dozens of stories like this on similar apps so we are reserving judgement at the moment. No doubt we will return to this subject later.
My favourite article/post came this week courtesy of our own Steve Atkins. Entitled 'Did you pay cash for that?' I am reprinting it in its entirety here. It would be funny if it wasn't so true! Steve is now looking for partners to make the ultimate marketing campaign out of this. Anyone interested? Here it is...
Did you pay cash for that?
We have to offer a big thank you to Raymond Lee (@rayleee) this morning for bringing this item to our attention via his Twitter feed. After doing a little more checking we discovered the original source of this story, so must also credit Kevin Fogarty (IT World). Kevin may have done us all a favour - the contactless payment industry that is - by bringing to light what may turn out to be a fantastic reason to converting to contactless/mobile payments. Namely, that if you use cash to buy your coffee, this may indicate that you are in fact, a terrorist. At least according to the FBI.
This next bit is quoted from Mr. Fogarty's article.
"According to a set of guidelines sent out by the FBI as part of its Communities Against Terror program, ordinary citizens need to be on the lookout for suspicious characters who follow patterns of behaviour particularly indicative of a covert operative with mayhem on his or her mind. As part of its Communities Against Terrorism" program, the FBI distributes fliers aimed at 25 different industries "purportedly highlighting typical activity of a terrorist who might frequent a shopping mall, Internet café, tattoo shop, bulk fuel distributor or other typical hangout of the Jihadist underground.
CAT is part of a program run by the Dept. of Justice called the State and Local Anti-Terrorism Training program (SLATT), which could provide effective, well-grounded do and information for law enforcement and citizens on what to do in case of emergency, how to recognise behaviour that is a genuine indicator someone may be up to no good and what to do about it.
Using Google Maps to find your way around a strange city, to view photos of sports stadium or the cities themselves or installing software on your PC designed to protect your privacy online are all solid indications not that you're a terrorist, rather than a web-savvy traveller."
I think we'll reserve judgement on this advice at the moment as I would imagine that just about everyone reading this post has, at sometime, used Google maps or even tried to protect their privacy. The best advice though, is for those eagle-eyed defenders of justice - the humble Barista. Their capacity to keep a close eye on everyone and weed out suspicious terrorist-like activity is second only to their ability to take 10 minutes to pour a cappuccino and create that little leaf out of frothy milk on the top. What are they to look out for? What are the latest revelation from the FBI files? -- Paying in cash for coffee.
Apparently (according to the FBI/Mr. Fogarty) using cash for small purchases like a cup of coffee, gum and other items is a good indication that a person is trying to pass for normal without leaving the kind of paper trail created using a debit or credit card for small purchases.
I think this is gold for marketers in the contactless industry. Although, upon reflection, perhaps not. After all, mobile or contactless payments may speed up time at the checkout but there is also the danger of simply joining a larger queue at the barista station as your coffee is made. And if we're being given the once over by a barista who now thinks he's Clint Eastwood - it's going to take all morning to get a coffee. Perhaps the catch phrase 'Do you want fries with that?' will be replaced with 'Did you pay cash for that?' before you're menaced with a frothy milk dispenser and then whisked away by men in dark suits who demand to know why you're not using contactless payments.
It would be funny if it wasn't so serious. Could we start a meme here, anyone…?
Until next week.
Susan Hicks
Contactless Intelligence
Payments & m-Commerce
Google Wallet Engineers Exit; Web Giant Likely to Revamp Strategy bit.ly/ytVYlX
Google Wallet Hack Shows NFC Payments Still Aren’t Secure ti.me/wDSYhi
Google Suspends Provisioning of Prepaid Cards in Wallet as It Fixes Security Hole bit.ly/zWbH16
Could Google Wallet be Google's next failure? cnet.co/Ad0vv4
Google Restores Prepaid Card Issuance to Wallet after Plugging Security Hole bit.ly/yp7zHg
Google tightens grip on smartphone wallets bit.ly/AvuIU7
Google Holding Back the Marker for Mobile Payments Within Apps bit.ly/wjrj5E
Barclays unveils cash-free payment app in bid to poach bank customers bit.ly/A9o4Mi
Mobile money slowly turning East Africa into cashless society bit.ly/yOy9Qz
Forget the NFC argument - look at payments behavior bit.ly/yUeLld
Singapore plans to deploy a nationwide interoperable NFC infrastructure for mobile payment services bit.ly/yUBipx
Taiwanese Banks Plan to Launch M-Payment on iPhone and SWP microSD Cards bit.ly/Avn4QD
PayPal: forget the NFC hype, we’re way better bit.ly/w5kt6D
Some Banks Continue to Look for Alternatives to SIM-based NFC bit.ly/xqxAci
Sybase 365 and Telefónica Expand Mobile Financial Services with Innovative Mobile Wallet bit.ly/wva3z7
mBank, MultiBank extend NFC payments trial bit.ly/Avy6CK
Mobile Payments: Not a Game Changer Yet? bit.ly/AwpNtW
Lakeland launches contactless payment scheme - hotmobilephones.info/?p=662
NFC vs. cloud-based payments: Which will reach scale first? bit.ly/xaLaNU
Local m-money platform makes global waves bit.ly/xnqPq7
O2 to stage NFC app development competition bit.ly/z1tGSD
CommBank's Kaching clocks up 110k downloads bit.ly/AwIiF4
WebMoney launches mobile payments system in Ukraine bit.ly/zurjbC
Mobile money - has its moment come? bbc.in/wX6LuY
Paytoo Mobile Wallet Brings the Fiesta to Mexico bit.ly/w8qazr
Polish banks expand NFC trial bit.ly/yytuoO
NFC & Mobile
Nokia’s Head of NFC Leaves; Latest Departure from Handset Maker's NFC Team bit.ly/zA8ktE
NFC Is Fighting The Right Battle With The Wrong Weapon read.bi/wQNSwK
Foursquare updates Android app with NFC support vrge.co/zSdR4K
Toppan adds NFC to Salesforce bit.ly/x9BL8T
Proxama announces global NFC mobile wallet collaboration with ARM bit.ly/xiH6ln
HP releases Envy Spectre ultrabook with NFC bit.ly/yYsiuP
Texas Instruments Announces First Combo Wireless Chips Supporting NFC bit.ly/yfqGbz
Ice Cream Sandwich passes 1% penetration bit.ly/yccze8
Sony To Offer NFC Authenticated Power Outlets tcrn.ch/wBRFIE
Transportation, Ticketing & Loyalty
First in-market deployment of Cardis technology heralds global move away from cash bit.ly/wXmq72
Thales launches its new ticketing reader ready for bank cards bit.ly/y4IWLY
Leap card chief -- we don't use UK bank bit.ly/wa2pWK
PalmPass gets your ticket to ride bit.ly/wKgH4Q
Other News & Opinion Articles
NXP Semiconductors Needs a Shark Cage aol.it/xW4pev
Time for Cash to Cash Out? on.wsj.com/zqKccg
Security: last year's biggest m-payment concern. Let's win the battle this year. bit.ly/yTTZ6y
French companies partner on contactless tech for smart cards bit.ly/y55Aaf
Product Packaging May Talk to You Someday bit.ly/z7kWSM
US growth triples Monitise bit.ly/AfJFci
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