Apple, Starbucks and Disney are all strong brands with loyal followings, but they also have something else in common: They're early leaders in the ever-evolving mobile payments market.
Some analysts predict 2015 will be the first year all the pieces — including a larger base of NFC-enabled devices and terminals, and growing consumer acceptance — come together to take mobile currency mainstream. A number of additional companies are also entering the world of mobile payments, such as American Express, which you might expect to see, and Jawbone, which might seem surprising.
Here's a high-level look at the current mobile-payment and wallet adoption levels, as well as a breakdown of
By the end of this year, 5 percent of the world's 600 million to 650 million NFC-enabled phones will be used at least once every month to make "contactless in-store payments at retail outlets," according to consulting firm Deloitte's annual "Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT) Predictions" report.
Click Image To Enlarge
While five percent is not a staggering number, it represents a considerable increase over last year's mobile payment usage rate. As of mid 2014, less than 0.5 percent of the 450 million to 500 million NFC-enabled phone owners used their mobile devices for in-store purchases, Deloitte says.
While contactless mobile payments won't go mainstream this year, "niche adoption" will continue to grow, according to the report. Down the road, mobile payments use via NFC-enabled devices should "rise steadily" as consumers become more familiar with the concept and banks and retailers readily accept mobile payments.
U.S. mobile payments to national brands and local merchants will grow from $52 billion in 2014 to $142 billion by 2019, according to a 2014 Forrester report.
Click Image To Enlarge
Forrester say.
"The adoption of mobile payments is an evolution — not a revolution — and the evolution is well underway,"
Forrester's numbers includes in-person mobile payments as well as remote and peer-to-peer payments.
Capgemini's "World Payments Report 2014" suggests mobile payments will increase to 47 billion transactions through 2015, up from 29.2 billion in 2013.
And according to Gartner, "rampant interest in mobile payments" and a "significant increase in mobile commerce" will drive mobile commerce revenue in the United States to represent 50 percent of all U.S. digital commerce revenue by 2017. Mobile commerce currently represents 22 percent of all digital commerce, Gartner says.
American Express is experimenting with facial recognition and wearable technology that could form the foundation for new mobile-payment and security features, according to The Wall Street Journal. Amex tests new ways of using its payment services on devices such as the Apple Watch and Google Glass in its own tech development lab. The company is evaluating facial recognition as a more secure way for mobile consumers to use Amex when paying for goods or sending money transfers. However, the technology isn't ready for prime time and is still in early testing phases, The Journal says.
Click Image To Enlarge
Amex also recently partnered with Jawbone to add mobile payment features to the company's upcoming UP4 fitness tracker.
The Apple Pay mobile-payment and digital-wallet system debuted in October 2014. It lets consumers with NFC-enabled iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, and Apple Watch devices pay in stores at contactless terminals and buy goods using apps that support the service.
Click Image To Enlarge
Apple Pay's impact was significant and immediate. Apple said more than a million credit cards were registered for use with the service in its first three days of availability. Denée Carrington of Forrester Research says.
"Apple Pay will influence every discussion of mobile payments through 2015. Apple Pay will be the catalyst for new debates on balancing data privacy with customer engagement and loyalty" and will be "the standard-bearer for the best use of tokenization to secure payments and biometrics to combat fraud."
CurrentC is expected to be available in mid 2015, and it will combine mobile payments and loyalty benefits. Merchant Content Exchange (MCX), a company owned by a consortium of U.S. retailers including CVS, Best Buy, Lowe's, Sears, Target, and Walmart, backs the CurrentC platform.
Click Image To Enlarge
Small-scale trials are currently underway in undisclosed U.S. markets, according to IDG News Service, but some critics express doubts about CurrentC. Forbes says.
"MCX seems completely unaware of how people actually shop at its partner stores."
CurrentC doesn't support credit cards, to help merchants avoid those fees. Instead, CurrentC uses debit cards, which don't provide the same level of fraud protection as credit cards. The system will also initially use QR codes instead of NFC or another wireless technology.
According to Wired.'
"If you want to imagine how the world will look in just a few years ... skip Silicon Valley and ... (go) to Disney World,"
Disney World guests can wear a "MagicBand," a waterproof, plastic wristband that contains a short-range RFID chip and a 2.4-GHz wireless transmitter. MagicBand is also a mobile payment system, and it lets guests at Disney resorts purchase food, beverages and merchandise, and gain admission to attractions.
Click Image To Enlarge
Wired says.
"You don't need to carry cash, because the MagicBand is linked to your credit card. You don't need to wait in long lines."
Google Wallet, a mobile-payment and wallet system that uses NFC to enable payments between compatible devices and point-of-sale (PoS) readers, was released in 2011. However, the system failed to gain traction, partially because some wireless providers supported the then-rival Softcard payment system, previously (and unfortunately) known as Isis.
Click Image To Enlarge
In February 2015, Google acquired Softcard, integrated it with Google Wallet and announced its Wallet app would be preinstalled on compatible devices from AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless later this year. You can use Gmail attachments to send money from your Google Wallet, too, even if the recipient doesn't use Gmail. Apple Pay's success ironically ignited interest in Google Wallet, and today more stores accept NFC payments from both competitors.
Jawbone, which makes fitness trackers, portable speakers and other consumer electronics, recently entered the world of mobile payments. In mid April, the company announced that its upcoming UP4 ($200) activity-tracker wristband would let wearers make contactless payments via pre-registered American Express cards at PoS terminals this summer. UP4 will use Jawbone's app to link Amex cards to UP4 for NFC wireless payments. (Microsoft Band is another wearable with some mobile payment capabilities.)
Click Image To Enlarge
For UP4 transactions, Amex will provide retailers with tokens instead of consumers' credit card numbers, according to PC World, and Jawbone says it won't store credit card numbers or receive sensitive data about user transactions.
Microsoft will likely enter the mobile payments space in a big way. Here's the gist of what's known so far, according to The Motley Fool: The payment platform may be called "Microsoft Payment;" the company filed official forms to become a money transmitter in the United States and already received permission to act as one in Idaho; and Windows 10's "tap to pair" feature could be used to transmit payments via NFC.
From PC World:
"For now, we can only imagine what Microsoft might do. Perhaps the company is cooking up a direct mobile payment competitor to Apple Pay — though any effort on that front may be hamstrung by Windows Phone's meager adoption."
Microsoft's Band wearable already lets you pay for goods at Starbucks.
Click Image To Enlarge
PayPal has been an ecommerce force for years. In March, news broke of PayPal's plan to acquire startup Paydiant, a platform that companies use to build branded mobile-payment and loyalty-card services. Subway, Capital One and retail consortium Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX) already use Paydiant's platform, according to the IDG News Service. Paydiant lets consumers pay for items via their mobile devices using NFC and QR codes.
Click Image To Enlarge
PayPal also said in March that it would sell NFC-equipped versions of its credit card readers to merchants.
In March, Samsung announced Samsung Pay, which uses two different wireless technologies: NFC and magnetic secure transmission (MST). Startup LoopPay developed the latter, which has been embedded as a copper ring inside the new Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphones, according to Computerworld.
Click Image To Enlarge
Samsung Pay is expected to be available in the United States and South Korea this summer. The system's support for NFC and MST means Galaxy S6 users will be able to make purchases at many more retail locations than Apple Pay users, because Apple Pay requires NFC-enabled terminals.
Avivah Litan, Gartner analyst, told Computerworld.
"Samsung Pay certainly heats up the competition. But Samsung still has a lot of work to do to improve the user experience before it can effectively compete with Apple."
Square's PoS card readers are already a hit with small businesses, including food trucks, restaurants and other local retailers. The Square Wallet mobile app, introduced in 2011, didn't catch on with consumers, however, so the company pulled it and replaced it in 2014 with Square Order, an app that lets people preorder drinks and food from local vendors. Then in March 2015, Square shut down that app, too. The company currently focuses on its Square Cash peer-to-peer mobile payments app for consumers and businesses, as well as its various PoS systems for merchants, including the Square Register app.
Click Image To Enlarge
Wired says Starbucks is "the master of mobile payments." AForbes headline says "Once Again, Starbucks Shows Google And Apple How To Do Mobile Payment." So what's the big deal?
Click Image To Enlarge
The coffee chain says it nabbed as much as 90 percent of the $1.6 billion spent in U.S. stores via smartphone in 2013. CEO Howard Schultz says the company's loyalty program drives mobile payments. Coffee drinkers purchase Starbucks cards, load them with funds from a credit card, then scan barcodes in the Starbucks app or iOS Passbook wallet to pay for food and drinks at its cafes. The more they buy, the more points they earn toward freebies.
Starbucks is also reportedly testing beverage delivery (via the Postmates service) as an extension of its mobile payment offering.
COMMENTARY: Seth Priebatsch, 23, and CEO of SCVNGR, a Cambridge-based startup that began as company with a location-based social gaming app, could not get sufficient traction, so it pivoted in late 2011. Priebatsch's no goal now is to dominate the market for mobile payments, allowing cellphones to be used in place of cash or plastic to buy things.
Already, 250 businesses around Boston allow consumers to use SCVNGR’s LevelUp mobile app to pay, and Priebatsch says another 100 will come online soon. The system, deployed in eight other cities, is handling more than $1 million in transactions each month. One analyst believes the only app used by more consumers today for mobile payments is the Starbucks app.
SCVNGR has had several incarnations.
It started in 2008, enabling sites like museums or colleges to create text-based games that could be played on any mobile phone as players navigated a real-world environment.
Then, SCVNGR started chasing Foursquare, a Manhattan company that was the first to encourage mobile users to “check in’’ and share their location with others.
In March 2012, SCVNGR launched LevelUp, which was seen as an attempt to cash in on the Groupon craze. But while Groupon’s prepaid coupons only created an incentive to go to a business once - to take advantage of, say, $50 worth of tanning time for $25 - LevelUp offered an enticing second and third deal once you cashed in the first. The idea was to try to engender loyalty, rather than just drive a swarm of bargain-hunters to the business.
The original LevelUp product didn’t take off. SCVNGR was pitching it to merchants when dozens of other companies were also trying to persuade them to offer new kinds of digital deals.
SCVNGR introduced the current version of LevelUp in July 2012. Once you enter a credit card number into the app, you can use your cellphone to pay at businesses that accept LevelUp. The merchant puts a SCVNGR-supplied mobile phone on the counter in a special plexiglass holder. When you open the app, it displays a QR code - a more pixelated version of a bar code - which is read by the merchant’s phone and initiates the transaction.
The LevelUp scan works more reliably than a credit card swipe, and it’s generally faster.
But the big incentive is that most businesses accepting LevelUp offer deals to get you in the door. The app lets you see a list of businesses near you, and how much they will knock off your first purchase: a $4 credit at Naked Pizza, for instance.
Once you make that first purchase, a business can dangle future discounts based on a certain spending level. That’s an easy way to run a loyalty program without having to dole out those annoying punch cards.
When you use Twitter to survey people who use LevelUp regularly, they cited discounts and the simplicity as their two favorite features.
Dan Croak of Cambridge said he liked the way it cuts down on visits to an ATM, and doesn’t require him to sign a credit card receipt.
Katie Cohen of Boston said the app’s only drawback is that "I feel more like a nerd every time I use it."
Merchants say they appreciate LevelUp’s low transaction fee: about 2 percent. Mike Conley, director of marketing at Sebastians Cafés, says.
“Accepting other credit cards can be as high as 5 or 6 percent. Plus, LevelUp gives us a wealth of data about our customers: how often they come in, and how much they spend.’’
Conley says nearly 4,000 people have used LevelUp to pay at Sebastians, and their average purchase is higher than other customers.
Patrick Lynch, who runs the Bon Me food truck, says.
"I have found it’s worth our while to give a little discount with LevelUp to try to convert people into regulars.’’
Bon Me offers $2 off a customer’s first purchase with LevelUp.
Building a mobile payment product that consumers and merchants like is a significant accomplishment, and Yankee Group analyst Nick Holland says that SCVNGR has maneuvered into a very strong position. Holland says.
“It’s arguable that they’re number two behind Starbucks. But we’re still in the very low single-digit percentages, in terms of people using their mobile phones for anything transactional.’’
Handling $1 million in monthly transactions is not generating much revenue for SCVNGR, which so far has raised $20 million in venture capital ($12 million was raised in May 2012). The 120-person company collects $20,000 in fees on that $1 million, some of which it must pay to credit card issuers and middlemen. Even getting to $100 million a month in transactions would not create a very big business.
But Priebatsch has already figured out his next move. He said.
“In three years, we’ll be handling $10 billion a month of transactions - and making zero on the transactions.’’
Instead, LevelUp will charge merchants a monthly fee (perhaps $100 per location) for help bringing in new customers, transforming them into repeat customers, and analyzing their spending habits.
Priebatsch says.
“Google has had great success with selling advertising that understands what you’re searching for, and generates revenue every time you click on one of their ads. Our ad unit is based on the transaction, on getting you into a business to buy something. We think that what we are building is the largest financial advertising system on the planet.’’
Priebatsch’s lofty vision could get SCVNGR acquired, as established players in the payments industry, such as PayPal, Google, and credit card companies, try to formulate winning strategies for mobile. But building a profitable business atop the vision would give SCVNGR a chance of becoming a major player in its own right - perhaps the 21st century’s version of American Express.
Courtesy of an article dated April 22, 2015 appearing in CIO Magazine and an article dated March 25, 2014 appearing in The Boston Globe
Follow Me: 
Twitter: turk5555 
Facebook: 797743955 
LinkedIn: turk5555
Recent Comments