Apple Pay

What does Apple Pay mean for mobile payments?

Quite a bit.

With Apple sitting on the sidelines the last few years there has been a headwind to any effort in this space.  The wait and see approach has been preferable to many, and the most affluent and innovative mobile consumers (largely) have been staying with Apple.

That all changed yesterday.

Clearly this will have ramifications throughout the space.  This is validation for efforts towards mobile payments.  The biggest players, including the biggest credit card companies and the largest banks, are all united on this path.  I view it as a sustaining move by the issuers and credit card companies.  They want to see things continue exactly as they are.

What about the merchants?

If you have great margins, as the luxury companies do, or speed is incredibly important for you, or you want/need your brand to be tied to a brand viewed as high-quality, this is good for you.  We've seen the companies announced and that matches perfectly.  What about the masses though?  Lower margins mean the existing payments networks are a terrible drain for you.  That is where CurrentC by MCX comes in.

I see this playing out along the lines of the wealth divide in the United States.  Apple with other luxury brands will ignite Apple Pay and NFC.  Meanwhile, CurrentC will grow amongst the largest retailers in the world.  Things should be pretty interesting the next few years.

Here are a couple articles that provide some perspective.

"New iPhones Will Get us Half Way to Mobile Payments"
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-09-09/new-iphones-will-get-us-halfway-to-mobile-payments

"How Apple's iPhone 6 Can Finally Make Mobile Payments Happen"
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-09-05/how-apples-iphone-6-can-finally-make-mobile-payments-happen

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Apple Payments - NFC, Amex, MasterCard, and VISA?

Wow.

The rumor mill is certainly churning with anticipation building ahead of Apple's announcement in Cupertino on September 9.

The biggest news I'm hearing that doesn't concern a wearable device such as an iWatch regards the following (all rumors until Sept 9):

• The new iPhone will contain a NFC chip to enable payments in close proximity.
• Apple has signed a deal with VISA for mobile payments.
• Apple has signed a deal with both MasterCard and VISA for mobile payments.
• Apple has signed a deal with American Express for mobile payments.

Wow.

Pretty intense rumor mill regarding Apple finally embracing NFC technology, something I've been extremely skeptical of to date.  You can't just ignore a firestorm of rumors though so September 9 should be fun, as we expected it would be.

Here is one excellent article by Karen Webster worth reading if you follow mobile payments:

http://www.pymnts.com/news/2014/whos-on-your-2014-fantasy-payments-team/#.VAW2hcVdX9Z

The American Express rumor:

http://recode.net/2014/08/31/apple-9-9/

The MasterCard and VISA rumor:

http://www.paymentssource.com/news/emerging-payments/apple-said-to-team-up-with-visa-mastercard-on-iphone-wallet-3019019-1.html

How many days left until the event?  Once again Apple has succeeded in building interest for their product launch.  Seems to be a strong feed of information from the supply chain yet again but the main points may have nothing to do with the hardware this time.  That is an opportunity for Apple to regain some of its vaunted secrecy ahead of a product launch.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

**UPDATE** Good article here that lays out the entire story:
https://www.yahoo.com/tech/what-is-nfc-and-why-does-it-matter-for-the-iphone-6-96456683964.html?src=rss

**UPDATE #2** Another good article on this story stated merchants will decide whether or not Apple's foray in to payments will be successful.  True, unless consumer demand forces acceptance, a difficult trick to pull off.
http://blogs.forrester.com/denee_carrington/14-09-04-merchants_will_decide_the_fate_of_apples_mobile_wallet

New Collaboration for Mobile Payments - Visa, MasterCard, and American Express

The pot keeps getting stirred as more and more players work more and more angles in the mobile payments space.

Two days ago Visa, MasterCard, and American Express announced a partnership to develop a new global standard for mobile payments.  Mobile Commerce Daily has some information on this:

mobile-payments-power-play-faces-significant-challenges

Here is a snippet from that article:

By teaming up to create a new standard that would streamline mobile payments, leading card networks Visa, MasterCard and American Express hope to ensure a prominent role in smartphone and tablet transactions while also driving overall adoption by consumers and retailers.

Very interesting news.

Happy reading,

J.W. Gant