Dear Readers,
We haven't covered mobile payments too much in the last month. Primarily because there was very little to report. Despite rumblings of increased acceptance by various merchants, both in Europe and the US, there has been very little in terms of actual news. This week, however, did appear to bring new insights into the state of play for the mobile wallet in general.
First and perhaps most telling was the news that Google's Osama Bedier has left the company after two years, during which time he tried to establish the Google wallet for payment and other mobile commerce services. It has also been reported (from unverified sources) that Google has been making other changes to the wallet team in recent months, including reassigning some members of the contingent in the U.S. and disbanding or sharply cutting back the wallet teams in Europe and Asia. It is not known where Bedier has moved to. Google only confirmed that “Osama Bedier has decided to leave Google this year to pursue other opportunities." The only other statement that Google made, was "Payments are a big part of what people do every day, and we're committed to making them easier for everyone." Google had tried to enter the market and set dominance but observers felt that the company didn't really understand the role that mobile wallets would play in the future. As we pointed out in this news feed when Google first announced their entry into the mobile wallet arena – the company has a habit of 'swinging for the fences' in any market that it enters into and if that isn't enough in the short term, quietly takes its bat and ball and goes home. Is that what we are seeing here?
However, another company that IS committed to making the mobile wallet a reality is MasterCard. Last year, after launching its PayPass Wallet, (now rebranded MasterPass) MasterCard discovered that consumers who had already adopted mobile payment solutions had much less affection for the wallet solution than those who had never used mobile payments before. They found that only 58% of early mobile payment adopters liked the wallet product, compared to 76% of non-adopters. MasterCard found this out, thanks to a social media monitoring tool called Conversation Suite that it developed with Prime Research, a marketing researcher. The Conversation Suite allows MasterCard to monitor social media and blog posts, as well as traditional online media, and respond to those conversations. Marcy Cohen, Vice President and senior business leader of MasterCard’s worldwide communications team, said in the story. MasterCard employees follow online posts about MasterCard on the Conversation Suite’s 40-foot LED screen at MasterCard’s headquarters, according to the report.(http://bit.ly/14Qi98r) Now there's a company who is looking for long term gains over short term, immediate success.
Mobile wallets WILL happen. What makes me so certain is the fact that contactless payments in general appear to be gaining momentum as banks issue more and more cards. An article in last weeks Guardian (UK) connects banks to their role in contactless payment card issuance (http://bit.ly/18CN1G3). Retailers are also being more open about their contactless payment results. Marks & Spencer, one of the UK’s largest retailers, reported that it had rolled out contactless payment to 644 of its UK stores and said 14% of its card transactions under £20 are contactless. In a statement, Marks & Spencer’s retail director Sacha Berendji said that contactless increases convenience for consumers, since transactions take less than a second. She indicated in the statement that the merchant also expected customers to adopt mobile payment, which would refer to, or at least include, NFC. “Contactless and mobile payment is set to be an exciting part of the future retail landscape,” Berendji said in the statement, adding that “customers are already embracing” the benefits of contactless.
Certainly, this is good news for a major retailer but another entity is set to be the biggest accepter of contactless payments in Europe. It's the UK Post Office. The Post Office has announced that it has installed contactless payment terminals across 30,000 counter positions in its network of over 11,500 branches across the UK. This move makes the Post Office the biggest user of contactless acceptance technology in Europe allowing customers to pay using contactless cards and NFC phones.
The Post Office is currently undertaking the biggest transformation program in its history. It is modernizing its network to make it as easy as possible for customers to do business with it, with new open plan branches, increased automation and longer opening hours. Nick Kennett, Director of Financial Services at the Post Office said: "We are delighted that through installing these new contactless payment terminals across our entire network we can improve access to our services by making it as easy as possible for customers to do business with us. These contactless terminals are part of our investment program to improve customer service and reduce transaction times. The Post Office network is bigger than all the banks combined, with over 11,500 branches. As the largest provider of contactless payment terminals in Europe we are pleased to be leading the way in bringing this technology to the 20 million customers which visit our branches each week."
I can't think of any other institution where the image of endless queues go hand in hand with its very existence. It will be interesting to see if this image becomes a thing of the past.
And finally, interesting news from Netto. A mobile app that allows you to spend up to 150 Euro. The shape of things to come? Read more here http://wp.me/p1Jrjn-1WI
Until next week.
Regards,
Steve Atkins
Contactless Intelligence
This week on C-ITV
CMA 2013 Opening Video http://wp.me/p1Jrjn-1TS
Guest Post: Visa Contactless Cards http://wp.me/p1Jrjn-1UX
Guest Post: Grasp the Mobile Opportunity http://wp.me/p1Jrjn-1TO
Guest Post: Mobile ticketing solutions on the rise http://wp.me/p1Jrjn-1UT
Guest Post: Mobile revolution hits retailers http://wp.me/p1Jrjn-1V0
VIDEO: NearSpeak – a voice recognition NFC-enabled app http://wp.me/p1Jrjn-1W1
Payments & m-Commerce
Google Wallet Chief Bedier Departs Company as Wallet Continues to Struggle http://bit.ly/10KemBi
Post Office becomes the biggest accepter of contactless payment in Europe http://bit.ly/13lME34
Vendor launches Bluetooth-based mobile payments http://bit.ly/13lMB7s
Taiwanese Bank Gets Approval for NFC-Enabled Credit Cards; Okay for Other Banks Expected http://bit.ly/10KdZ9S
TIMWE and Opera seal agreement for mobile payments http://bit.ly/106lj3r
How Ironic: Verizon Ad Shows Up in Google Wallet http://bit.ly/106lADw
Empire Brewing customers now able to pay by smart phone http://bit.ly/106lwnp
More small firms look at mobile-pay options http://usat.ly/106lvjl
Next Version of WeChat Rumored to Have Mobile Payments and Paid Publishing Platform http://bit.ly/106lqMD
MasterCard Uses Social Media to Rebrand Its Mobile Wallet Through Real-Time Monitoring http://ubm.io/106loo2
Imagining a Passbook-powered digital wallet http://bit.ly/106lPOW
Contactless payments: which banks are in touch? http://bit.ly/106lLyT
Pageonce Changes Its Name And Gets Ready For The Mobile Payments Revolution http://onforb.es/11ei8KA
Wendy's pilots mobile payment feature in its app http://bit.ly/11ei3GA
SmartDebit responds to research on contactless payment usage http://bit.ly/10kp1IF
Mobile Media Creations (M2C) Announces New Dining Options In Singapore Using The MOGi Mobile Wallet App http://bit.ly/10koXsb
One penny solution to mobile payments conundrum http://bit.ly/11eivom
Digital wallets becoming more popular? http://bit.ly/18WEjm4
Blackberry Live to promote NFC http://bit.ly/18WEbCY
UK Retailer Marks & Spencer Sees Growing Use of Contactless Cards http://bit.ly/18WEqOo
Iceland's Valitor trials contactless and mobile payments software http://bit.ly/18WFpy4
AIRTAG enables Magento e-commerce sites to mobilize in native mobile wallet apps http://bit.ly/18WGZ3e
NFC & Mobile
Samsung 3D camera gets NFC http://bit.ly/11eiqRM
Loewe unveils Speaker 2go, portable Bluetooth and NFC capable speaker available in June http://bit.ly/11eieSx
Mopius translates speech messages with NFC http://bit.ly/18WEYDY
Vivo Xplay to come with NFC http://bit.ly/18WEUEt
NFC technology ready for prime time? http://bit.ly/18WERbv
Doorbell app answers the door with NFC http://bit.ly/18WEKgc
Google Wallet, Other Mobile Payments Enhance Mobile Marketing http://bit.ly/18WEEW2
Vendor Groups Release Ticketing Specs While They Wait for Transit Officials to Move on Mobile NFC http://bit.ly/18WEuh7
JAL adds carriers and coupons to NFC boarding pass service http://bit.ly/18WEptY
Easy & fast NFC implementation made possible by ams http://bit.ly/18WFv8Z
Voyantic adds NFC tag test tool http://bit.ly/15MN71y
BaubleApp launches NFC jewellery for children http://bit.ly/15MN2em
Flashiz adds loyalty to NFC and QR payments service http://bit.ly/15MNmcV
Transportation, Ticketing, Access, Security & Loyalty
Caversham 'Oyster card' scheme to encourage walking http://bbc.in/13lMDfx
GSMA Proposes Global Standard for NFC-Enabled Loyalty and
Couponing–using SIM Cards http://bit.ly/13lMCs7
Foursquare adds NFC to WP8 app http://bit.ly/13lMysj
TapBase Introduces NFC-Less Proximity Payments http://bit.ly/13lMA3d
Cleveland RTA wants 'smart' cards in the hands of riders next year http://bit.ly/106lKuC
Para users shut out of Presto card system, Non-universal system leaves out disabled people: users http://bit.ly/106lEmR
LTC smart-card program pushed back http://bit.ly/15MNU2H
National Express hailing Dundee smartcard scheme http://bit.ly/15MNIAi
Vehicle access control at Vodafone Village http://bit.ly/15MNCcb
Tabbedout adds another POS partner http://bit.ly/15MNzgi
Other News & Opinion Articles
Mobile and Alternative Payments in Mexico http://prn.to/13lMwRc
MPOS under the Microscope: Mobey Forum Launches New White Paper Series for Financial Institutions http://bit.ly/106loUO
Square, the mobile payment start-up firm, sets its sights on the food industry http://wapo.st/106lD2o
Mastercard’s Head Of Emerging Payments Says Bitcoin Is ‘Just For Geeks’ http://bit.ly/11eitNb
SIMalliance Collaboration with IEEE Brings Mobile and Internet Authorities Together http://bit.ly/15MMRjh
USA Technologies' 2013 Cashless Knowledge Base Tracks Positive
Impact on Sales by Its Cashless Payment Platform http://bit.ly/15MO3TF
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Guest Post: From POI to POS
By Samsung
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Retail is undergoing some fundamental changes these days, predominantly in the areas of customer shopping experience. Many buzz words accompany this process: multi-channeling, endless shelf, connected retail, bricks & apps, and many more still. The underlying intention, however, is similar: how to master the challenge of keeping the traditional retail store attractive for those increasingly versatile consumers equipped with smartphones and keen on using them for their shopping convenience?
You may say that this is not exactly new. Connecting the flows of physical goods with digital data streams, creating online shopping portals on the Internet, has been out there for years. And yet, the process of digitizing the actual retail shopping environment is actually just starting. Creating new customer experiences in order to stimulate sales and improve customer loyalty seems to be the order of the day, and some pioneers are rolling out new systems to achieve these goals.
On a brand side, Adidas is pioneering the ‘endless shelf’, with its virtual footwear wall, and their interactive NEO pilot store extends the shop-related experience way beyond opening hours. On the retail side, Marks & Spencer virtually extends their fashion shelf, and Tesco is creating new levels of convenience for their shoppers with a growing range of virtual stores. These examples all have a common characteristic: they are based on interactive, digital signage devices.
Digital Signage (DS) technology has made a significant leap over the past few years. It has now reached a point of maturity, where the deployment of large connected networks has become possible – and at a reasonable OPEX. Remote maintenance enables the reduction of operating expense for the hardware to a fraction compared to its beginnings, and content deployment and management needs are met by a number of available platforms out there in the market. So where’s the catch?
Typically, DS is still reduced to a network of devices that broadcast visual advertising messages to a greater public, much like ye olde poster now switched to an animated mode. The final frontier these days, in fact, seems to be mere interactivity by means of QR or bar codes that link the interested consumer to some remote website somewhere on the internet. But is this really it for DS? Samsung thinks it’s not.
The usage of smart mobile devices is growing fast at a rate of more than 50 million units per month worldwide. Such a rapid proliferation in turn creates a wealth of new commercial opportunities in the field when these user frontends can be connected with engaging digital content on DS devices. This way, the consumer can buy goods or services on the spot, in the shop, and to gain or redeem loyalty points or coupons in the same process. Smart CRM programs can create additional customer value, and intelligent solutions can measure the attractiveness of a given content across gender and age groups with the aim to improve effectiveness of the marketing investment on the fly based on real-time data from the field.
Finally, NFC is providing the interface technology that allows for convenient, secure, and speedy payments as well as for value added services like loyalty point collection and coupon redemption. However, an open standard based solution does remain to be a major success factor for customer acceptance. There have been a variety of research studies analyzing the reasons for the rather sluggish NFC adoption, and most of them point in one clear direction: the lack of interoperability between existing implementations is a major showstopper.
Continue reading; http://wp.me/p1Jrjn-1Oo
Guest Post: Mobile revolution hits retailers
by VeriFone
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Recent research carried out by Forrester Consulting, concluded that mobile access to product information, store locations, location-based offers, voucher codes, comparison sites, barcode scanners, product reviews and purchase tracking is making the traditional, linear in-store approach to purchasing something of the past.
No question that retailers need a mobile strategy and they need it now. Not least because NFC is about to hit millions of consumers. According to a new study by Juniper Research, one in four mobile phone users in Western Europe will be making NFC payments in five years’ time.
European retailers need to take NFC and mobile services seriously if they want to stay relevant to their consumers. It’s not hype, it’s about long term survival.
At VeriFone, we cannot reinforce enough that the technology to initiate change and create a new mobile-centric retail experience is already here. Between Sept 2011-Sept 2012 we shipped over one million contactless / NFC devices and all of our new payment devices are now NFC-enabled to facilitate two way mobile dialogue as soon as it is required.
These are being complimented in the field with our PAYware Mobile solutions that transform smartphones and tablets into fully integrated mobile POS. We also have managed payments platforms to facilitate rapid roll out and deployment and retail mobile software and clientelling apps from VeriFone GlobalBay. With NFC-enabled retailers on board, it won’t be long before we can look forward to highly targeted couponing, loyalty programs, advertising, digital gift and more, all administered effectively and efficiently via new payment devices.
While this is good news for consumers, it will be hard work for retailers. To help them navigate their way through this period of immense change, many are turning to managed-services as the most effective way of managing their payments towards NFC and contact- less enablement. Not only does this free their internal IT resource to focus on servicing the business, it also offers a myriad of operational benefits that span all channels and cascade all the way down to the consumer.
Continue reading; http://wp.me/p1Jrjn-1V0
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