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Friday, June 11, 2010

Mobile payments: solutions get dumber while cards get smarter?

Mark Bridge writes:

Last week I spotted a couple of mobile-related news stories that involved payment company MasterCard. One came from CPI Card Group, which had introduced a “next-generation, MasterCard-approved payment tag” (a.k.a. 'sticker') that enabled “any mobile device to be used to make payments anywhere using the worldwide contactless MasterCard PayPass standard” (by sticking it on the back).

But that's not really about the mobile payments market, is it?  Sticking a flexible payment card to the back of a phone is no more “mobile payment” than sticking it on my shoe would demonstrate CPI's commitment to the shoe-payment market – or swallowing an MP3 player would turn me into a cyborg.

It's convergence by gaffa tape, that's all.

Mind you, if I could replace a fingernail with one of those cards… hmmm… watch out, Professor Kevin Warwick.

MasterCard's own MoneySend application doesn't seem much better. Oh sure, it's online, but it's not really adding anything to the m-payment story. If you live in the USA you can use your iPhone to send or receive payments between friends. It works with certain banks and credit unions... and sounds a bit like PayPal to me. Except that PayPal launched its mobile service in those days of pre-history before Apple launched its iPhone.

This week there’s still no sign of smartphones turning into payment cards – but payment cards are definitely getting smarter. NagraID Security has developed a debit card and credit card that looks like other payment cards but includes a small display and a button to generate one-time passwords for additional authentication. These cards comply with MasterCard’s standards, so there’s no reason we shouldn’t see them soon. Very soon.

The moral?  There’s more than one direction that electronic ‘real-world’ payments could go. Or, as Saint Ben of Masabi puts it, “Just because you can do something with mobile doesn’t mean you should”.

 

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1 comments on article "Mobile payments: solutions get dumber while cards get smarter?"

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The Fonecast

4/19/2012 7:55 AM

Today Barclaycard has announced a stick-on credit card. That's all - no talk of apps or the web. And it's supposed to be 'mobile'. Pah!

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Opinion Articles

T-Mobile, the Information Commissioner's Office and the stolen customer information

Mark Bridge writes:

The Information Commissioner's Office - the UK authority that upholds information rights - has published details of its recent case involving T-Mobile. Contact information and expiry dates for minimum-term contracts were being sold to third parties, enabling mobile phone dealers to target potential customers who were in a position to sign a new contract... which could earn the dealer hundreds of pounds for a new connection.

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This week at The Fonecast: 11th June 2011

Mark Bridge writes:

On Monday there seemed to be a dearth of mobile news as the industry held its breath and waited for Steve Jobs to speak.

Why there was quite so much breath-holding beats me, because Apple had already told us what the announcement was going to cover. Anyway, we learned about iOS 5, which will arrive in the autumn, and its 200 new features – including a new messaging service called iMessage.

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Interview with Todd Levy about the family-friendly BloomWorlds Android app store

Mark Bridge writes:

Today's best-known stores mobile application stores are the Apple App Store and the Android Market, although independent app stores including GetJar and Handango have been with us for much longer.

And now there's another independent application store preparing to launch. The company behind it is called BloomWorlds – and I spoke to co-founder Todd R Levy for this week's podcast feature.

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Soon, no-one will care about mobile phone numbers - and the networks will love it

Mark Bridge writes:

Watch almost any American TV show from the 1960s - I'd recommend a good police procedural - and at some point after a few episodes there'll be a scene in a restaurant. One of the main characters will be dining and their meal will be interrupted by a waiter bringing a telephone to the table. The phone will probably have an implausibly long cable, although there may be a telephone socket nearby.

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Apple iMessage isn't going to kill SMS

Mark Bridge writes:

Apple iMessage is going to kill SMS. And then, when it's killed it, it'll dance on its grave. Anticlockwise. Whilst mocking every mobile network in the world.

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