Joe Randazza, CEO of the National Payment Card Association, thinks some people are missing the point in the conversation about mobile payments.
Yes, the technology is cool. In testimony before the U.S. Senate, expert Thomas Brown attributed much of the genuine excitement about new mobile payment technology to the notion that “the mash-up of mobile with payments will bring a bit of magic to the point of sale.”
“Waving a phone just seems cooler than swiping a plastic card,” he wrote.
Of course, Brown’s assessment isn’t wrong. But “cool” won’t spark ignition “” a point with which Brown would certainly agree. Instead, Randazza argues that the power to solve the chicken-and-egg problem faced by mobile payments lies with merchants. They want lower interchange costs, he says, and have the ultimate incentive to seek out the solution that delivers cost savings.
Randazza joins PYMNTS.com to tell what he calls “the untold story” of mobile payment adoption by merchants big and small. He also explains the concept of decoupled debit transactions, and talks about what merchants should expect from the NPCA in the near future.
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