"If we as a banking industry don’t get our head around payments … we risk the chance of an Apple or Google or anybody else being a disrupter in the space and taking some of the volume, very similar to the way PayPal has become a disrupter in the industry," said Jeff Dennes, the director of online and mobile services at Huntington Bancshares Inc.
From PaymentSource: http://www.paymentssource.com/news/apple-mobile-plans-opening-banks-3004850-1.html
Various terminal makers have come out with their own devices and services designed to support payment card acceptance using mobile phones. But one independent sales organization has decided to do so on its own, and at least one observer says the company could succeed with the proper marketing.
North American Bancard designed its new Pay Anywhere mobile point-of-sale acceptance service for smaller, service-oriented merchants by providing them with an affordable method to accept credit and debit cards, Marc Gardner, the independent sales organization’s president, tells PaymentsSource.
From Payment Source News: http://www.paymentssource.com/news/north-american-bancard-chooses-mobile-payment-path-3004848-1.html?
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Mobile phones have come a long way since their introduction over 30 years ago. By 2015, shoppers around the world are expected to use their mobile phones to purchase goods and services worth close to $120 billion.
In order to help retailers adapt to the new technology, the National Retail Federation has launched its Mobile Retail Initiative to offer best practices and learning opportunities for retailers entering the mobile space. This Mobile Retail Initiative has produced a Mobile Blueprint to guide retailers in planning and implementing initial mobile applications, including customer marketing, payments and internal operations.
Version 2 of the Mobile Blueprint, including an updated executive summary, maturity model, new mobile applications for marketing, commerce and operation, alternative payment information and how to use new technologies to speed mobile implementations, is now available.
· For a synopsis of the Mobile Blueprint, read the Executive Summary
· To see a summary and to download individual chapters of the Mobile Blueprint, go to the Table of Contents
· Download the entire Mobile Blueprint
The Mobile Blueprint Committee Chair Richard Mader would like to thank all who participated in this effort, with special thanks going to those who led the creation of version 2, Dave Dorf of Oracle content editor, Jona Buus of Cellpoint Mobile Implementation Strategies, Frank Andryauskas Micro Strategy executive overview, and Andrew Morris, Morris Advisors, Inc. Payment.
Apple Inc. plans to introduce near-field communication (NFC) services that would let customers use its iPhone and iPad to make purchases when it releases updated models of the two devices later this year …Bloomberg News
Verizon Wireless partner BilltoMobile has reached a deal with Boku that will enable customers to purchase items through their handsets and bill them to their cell phones rather than having to use credit cards. Boku’s rival Zong has a similar deal with Verizon.
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Mobile and other technologies are shifting the way retail operates, and this year is likely to bring even bigger change, Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, this week. During the recent holiday season, merchants including Wal-Mart saw an increase in site-to-store shopping and shoppers using mobile phones to compare prices while in the stores. Barrons.com/Stocks To Watch Today blog
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Microsoft shipped more than 2 million copies of its new mobile software, Windows Phone 7, in the fourth-quarter 2010. The company said internal customer surveys show 93% of those who bought Windows phones were "very satisfied" or "satisfied" with the devices.
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The U.K. will see its first commercial launch of a contactless mobile payment system with completion of a deal between Everything Everywhere and Barclaycard. The carrier, the parent of Orange and T-Mobile U.K., hopes to start the service — which will use near-field communications technology — in the second quarter ahead of a competing venture from O2.
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People who use their mobile phones to find restaurants are most often looking for something cheap and close by. A survey by Yahoo! and Nielsen last year also found that users of mobile dining apps tend to be young and prosperous. Even so, they’re looking for chain restaurants such as Chili’s and Applebee’s and fast food.
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=143502
Change is coming faster than the bank card networks will either admit or acknowledge, according to some payment pundits in our office.
Apple has leaked that the next versions of the iPhone and iPad mobile devices will include support for near-field communications (NFC). The next gen of Apple mobile products will be released later this year.
For those not familiar with NFC, mobile payments are made by adding a small short-range wireless radio to cell phones that can be scanned by a retailer at the point of sale. Once scanned, the chip tells the phone to debit money from the customer’s checking or credit account paired with the device and send it to the retailer. No need for Visa or MasterCard, according to some retailers and telcos we’ve spoke with.
Network operators AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless are backing a joint venture called Isis that will switch the transactions between retailers and their bank accounts. Isis participants include Discover Financial Services and Barclaycard U.S. (MasterCard and Visa, the two biggest credit card issuers in the U.S., are not backing Isis, however.) Assuming our sources are right, adding Apple to the mix could be the catalyst to kick the NFC mobile payment ecosystem into high gear with retailers large and small.
