PayPal Exec: NFC Alone Can’t Drive Mobile Wallets

For every proponent of NFC as the future of payments, there’s an opposite voice ready to contend that now is not the time for the growing contactless technology.

After the Mobile Association’s SM2 conference, it’s clear we can put one PayPal exec in the later camp.

When speaking about the future of mobile wallets at the conference, Walter Doyle, general manager at PayPal Media Network, Boston, doubted that NFC technology alone would get consumers to convert from traditional to mobile wallets.

“When you think about the mobile wallet, what’s going to transfer your desire to pay with instruments in your pocket to moving to payments with a mobile phone,” Doyle asked. “There’s a lot to that – I think that we have all recognized that it’s not the tap-and-pay or NFC – that’s not enough,” he said.

Doyle’s voice is just another in an ongoing debate as to whether, at least in the short term, NFC will seriously shape mobile payments. While some see NFC as a way to make transactions easier and safer, others believe payments companies must work to operate within existing payments infrastructure, as many merchants will not want to completely revamp their POS systems simply to accommodate for NFC.

In addition to sharing his thoughts on NFC, Doyle also revealed two new PayPal products – geo-metrics and geo-audience – which use discount offers, location and more to attempt to drive in-store traffic.

“The next step to all this stuff is about the mobile wallet,” Doyle said. “How do they buy from me in this omni-channel commerce world, when do they walk into my store, when do they buy from me online – that’s the real game here.”

To read more of Doyle’s comments on NFC, new mobile products and more, click here