Your comments have made the conversation about the future of NFC and payments that much more interesting. We present the best of them below, with minimal edits.
“In a world where plastic is established, there is no compelling reason for consumers to replace it with NFC simply for payments. ”¨Merchants are the same, particularly if NFC is just another burden foisted upon them by the card networks they distrust and dislike to start with. ”¨Mobile payments will come, with time, as more and more of what we do moves to a mobile device. But NFC will be a small, not dominant, part of it, used only in certain cases like transit where their is value for both customer and merchant, the merchant is unified and controls many points of sale.” — David True
“NFC offers much simpler access (the phone is always handy – people use it far more frequently then wallets) and the user interface is bound to become simpler as technology matures. The risks are there but as smartphones rapidly become the devices of choice for numerous tasks, from telling the time to reading books and web browsing, they will most certainly become the future card holding device.”¨Something will eventually prevail so why not NFC? ”¨NFC has managed to draw huge support among vendors and customers alike. It may very well be NFC time.””¨”¨— Shy
“I was at Visa from ’97-2004 and remember a video around ’98 that showed and promised much of what NFC promises today. Smart ‘chip’ enabled cards were going to allow me tons of convenience, payment options, consolidation, ease, rewards consolidation, offers and deals, et al., Sound familiar? Where are we on that front today – largely Betamax. Technology for the sake of technology is one thing – early adopters will always embrace it – but the supply and demand required for true market adoption is what matters. And, until merchants are presented with a real case study as to their benefits and ROI on new terminal adoption those estimates ($355B) are a LONG way out. While natural POS terminal adoption may happen over the next 2-5 years — guess what? Mag Stripe will still function fine for those card swiping addicts. The ease of swiping a card or ‘tapping’ my phone – not much difference. The value is key to that adoption. Value to the merchant and value to the consumer – both must receive new incremental benefits – the merchant in the form of a tool to help acquire new customers and target bigger basket size and the consumer in the form of easy rewards earning or targeted and relevant offers.” — Kelly Passey
“When we learn that the customer is “king” and that “better, faster, cheaper” has to be realized by the customer before they will shift, then we will see that NFC doesn’t really solve any problem. The ‘killer app’ of payments is still waiting to be found but many companies are getting closer.” ”¨— Scott Schroeder
“NFC and the other mobile apps I have seen so far require more effort on the part of the consumer than using a card. I have to pull up a screen, activate a button and/or enter a code. With a card it’s swipe and done. All solutions require taking something out of my pocket. So what is the enhanced value proposition to the consumer? Beyond semi-automatic application of coupons, there basically is none. Primarily these solutions are novelties invented by those in the middle wanting a piece of the action.” ”¨— Ray L.
“I am eager to see this technology picking up pace but, in my view, involvement of many stakeholders i.e. MNOs, banks, TSMs, card issuers, etc., is all taking it down due to no clear sense of ownership. Seeing Google performing not that well with its wallet solution, I am hoping ISIS doesn’t fall into the same holes and does come up to bring it as mainstream. However, to your article, it is a very valid take with the current circumstances.” ”¨— Kashif Zahid
“Interesting take. NFC certainly will strengthen if iPhone 5 has a chip. Cloud based payment apps and even barcode apps make more sense. Only one thing is for certain…it will be fun to watch!” — George Eubank Sr.
“NFC, a solution in search of a problem.” — Shawn
“NFC is definitely a contender – simply because of all the big names trying to make it work. But I think convenience-based solutions that require little merchant work and even smaller consumer effort (like PayPal) are definitely going to grab market share and not go away.” — Ted J.
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