Quantcast
Channel: Contactless Intelligence Weekly News Review Archive Feed
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 242

2016 - the year when the ‘real’ work started… Your Contactless Intelligence Weekly News Review

$
0
0
2016 - the year when the ‘real’ work started… Your Contactless Intelligence Weekly News Review
Contactless Intelligence Weekly News Review - Calendar Week 51
 

2016 - the year when the ‘real’ work started…

I have to admit that writing this end of year summary for 2016 fills me with a sense of dread. To put it simply, 2016 appeared as a pivotal year for the industry and one that was best described by one lady's turn of phrase as a ‘Annus Horribilis’. Incidentally she’s on TV this year - Christmas Day 3:00pm - everywhere…

While 2015 was a boom year for contactless in terms of introductions - Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Android Pay and the like, 2016 was the year in which introductions were well and truly over and gave way to that long, hard slog called ‘roll-out’. Sometimes embraced - sometimes not, as in the case of Apple Pay and the Australian Banks.

We also saw contactless payments move into the mainstream for transportation and not just on public transport - this was the year that the iconic London Cabs went contactless - after many years of digging their heels in. Quite a turning point for them - I think you’ll agree. In fact, the one area that DID expand in many ways was the continued roll out of contactless ticketing across may public transport authorities both in the UK and in Europe (I guess I will have to get used to writing that specific phrase more and more next year). Thanks Brexit!

The charity sector also grasped contactless for 2016 and made the very most of it; from Save the Children to the always innovative Cancer Research, there was a lot of interest in the subject within the UK this year. A thank you to all those companies and readers that came along to out Charity Roundtable event this July - a very informative day, I hope you’ll agree. Work on contactless donations continue to roll out throughout the sector as we speak - it is Christmas (the time for giving), after all.

For me, the most interesting change this last year was the slow but sure introduction of China’s Alipay as it made its way into the UK and Europe. Starting with airport shopping and gradually moving into those traditional stores that Chinese tourist list as one of their ‘must see’ venues when travelling. It makes a great deal of business sense for retailers in Europe to offer Chinese tourists the chance to pay using “their” mobile payment app. In the UK, Alipay announced they were working with Zapper to allow over 250,000 Chinese tourists visiting the UK to pay using the Alipay app in over 1,000 locations nationwide. In fact, Zapper became the first European mobile partner allowing active Alipay users to pay via the Alipay app across its full estate of affiliated Zapper businesses in the UK, Europe and North America.

The final homage to how payment has really changed in 2016 was the Amazon Go video posted two weeks ago showing the experimental shopping experience without checkout desks. While the jury is out on this particular approach, it was probably the most far-thinking, innovative, approach we have seen so far this year.

If you want hear what others have thought about 2016 in terms of payment, look no further. We have end-of-year reports from both André Stoorvogel, Head of Marketing, Rambus Bell ID and Andreas Strobel, President, Smart Payment Association and you can read both by clicking on the links here or in the columns below.

We also saw many changes in the actual corporate landscape in 2016. Things just got, I don’t know - weird? Visa Inc. took over Visa Europe with all the accompanying changes and uncertainty that a corporate change such as this creates. Other major technology players have dropped their contactless and NFC focus to concentrate on other areas, meaning that the teams we once worked with have moved and there appeared to be a greater number than usual of individuals who have changed focus and industry. It’s inevitable but sad - we have worked with these people for over a decade. But life (and the industry) goes on.

One change for next year though. We are resting the Contactless & Mobile Awards for 2017. A combination of the need for realignment and refocus has meant that, instead of focusing on our own awards event, we are supporting the NFC Forum in their 2017 Innovation Awards. You can find further details by clicking the banner below. Companies and developers using NFC in new, disruptive and innovative ways can submit award entries showcasing their work for the chance to win in one of three award categories and participate in the NFC Forum's Members Meeting Awards Reception on March 14, 2017 in Las Vegas.  Finalists receive two nights paid hotel room in Las Vegas, award trophy, global recognition and networking opportunities.  There is no cost to enter the competition, and the deadline for award submissions is January 11, 2017. So come on - what do you have to lose?

That’s all I want to cover this last editorial. In the words of the seasonal Queen song, ‘It’s been a long, hard year / But now it’s Christmas / Yes, It’s Christmas / Thank God it’s Christmas… 

Words to end the year on.

Steve Atkins
Contactless Intelligence

P.S. We will be back in the new year on the 17th January. Until then - Merry Christmas / Happy Holidays and have a very Happy New Year.

How to
eliminate that ‘bar humbug’ feeling this Christmas
season

Barclaycard say they have developed what is being called the world’s first contactless, self-serve beer pump, “Pay @ Pump”. The prototype has been designed to help bars and pub reduce queuing time for customers buying drinks during busy periods like Christmas.

With Brits saying the average wait-time for drinks is 12 minutes per order, working out as 35 minutes per person during a festive night out, Pay @ Pump could help combat crowds and reduce queuing time at the bar. What’s more almost one in four of bar-goers have considered abandoning a drinks purchase because of long bar queues and 20 per cent have even left a bar or pub and gone elsewhere when wait times become too long. The innovation was brewed up in response Brits getting the “bar humbugs” when it takes too long to get served.

Continue reading

Transport for West Midlands and Whim set to pioneer MaaS in the UK

A new era of transport is about to begin in the United Kingdom, where West Midlands will become the first region to pilot Mobility as a Service (MaaS) to its residents. The pioneering service, Whim by the MaaS operator MaaS Global, will be launched in the West Midlands metropolitan area in early 2017. The launch follows a freshly signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) by the West Midlands Combined Authority, transport service providers National Express and SilverRail, Birmingham City Council and MaaS Global. Other transport companies will be welcomed onboard the Whim service in the future.

The MaaS concept means looking after people’s daily mobility needs with a single service, which can be used either on a subscription or pay-as-you-go basis. In West Midlands MaaS can transform how over 5.5 million people get from A to B – including commuters in Britain’s second most populous city, Birmingham.

Continue reading

Difficult second album, second
year blues –
it’s not easy
maintaining
success.

Happily, following its breakout year in 2015, the mobile payments industry has seen continued innovation and growth in 2016. So, as we approach the end of the year, what are the key trends and technologies that will shape the industry into 2017?

Providing the consumer with a truly frictionless experience is the holy grail for the payments industry. This has already been achieved in-app with platforms such as Uber, but has yet to be translated in-store. In the IoT era, however, we are moving ever closer to delivering a seamless in-store experience. Beacons, geolocation, computer vision and biometric technologies are being combined to deliver a frictionless experience.

Indeed, the industry will closely be monitoring the success of Amazon Go, which is currently in beta but is expected to launch publicly in early 2017. The concept deploys various technologies (the exact details are yet to be released) that enables a consumer to walk into the store, pick up an item and walk out, with the order charged to their Amazon account upon leaving.

Continue reading

Strong 
customer
authentication – frictionless
payments

In recent months, we’ve seen the payment industry’s innovation agenda take a significant step forward. After much work, the standardization initiatives, and regulatory and authentication frameworks, are at last coming together. Spurred on by this, we are likely to see new players entering the payment value chain – not to mention the evolution of existing business models. It all heralds a dramatic change in the current financial services ecosystem.

With the foundations now in place, it’s time for the real work to begin – particularly if the tight implementation dates set by the regulatory bodies are to be met.

So, as banks embark on planning, designing and deploying innovative new online and mobile payment services, and developing new banking interfaces and authentication techniques, it is useful to take a step back – to see how we got here, what more needs to be done, and how the SPA can bring its considerable expertise to bear to help.

Continue reading

 

Featured this week on Contactless Intelligence

How to eliminate that ‘bar humbug’ feeling this Christmas season https://t.co/9wnPTURcIl
Transport for West Midlands and Whim set to pioneer MaaS in the UK https://t.co/18G9gptR9i
Difficult second album, second year blues – it’s not easy maintaining success. https://t.co/7eJ8Or5Jd0
Strong customer authentication – frictionless payments https://t.co/FeggF4eZHN
China UnionPay qualifies FIME test platform https://t.co/MgXzRbJY6B
NFC Forum releases new device certification and public transport white paper https://t.co/bIHwcOauFV
UK’s Invapay partners with Australian bank ANZ for payment innovation https://t.co/1IDoqbCnwT
China Mobile enters the connected car market with Gemalto’s remote subscription… https://t.co/0dwT5LTadt
Number of EMV card-present transactions exceeds 42% globally https://t.co/72EFKPTkm4

Copyright © 2016 Contactless Intelligence, All rights reserved.


Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 242