In Payments, Tokenization has surfaced two key points of debate for financial institutions. The first has to do with bank partnerships with technology providers like Apple, Google, Samsung et al – and how these partnerships need to be equalized around the topic of cost and control. Though the fear of disintermediation isn’t new, concerns about costs, data sharing and customer privacy has received a disproportionate share of this internal debate. Following is a brief perspective on how this is further shaped within banks and the downstream impact to those who intend to wrap them. Continue reading
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Drop Labs – Skating to where the puck's going to be.
Category Archives: Coin
Apple Pay: First Observations And Closing Thoughts
If rumors hold true, Apple Pay will launch in a week. Five of my last six posts had covered Apple’s likely and actual strategy in payments & commerce, and the rich tapestry of control, convenience, user experience, security and applied cryptography that constitutes as the backdrop. What follows is a summation of my views – with a couple of observations from having seen the Apple Pay payment experience up close. About three years ago – I published a similar commentary on Google Wallet that for kicks, you can find here. I hope what follows is a balanced perspective, as I try to cut through some FUD, provide some commentary on the payment experience, and offer up some predictions that are worth the price you pay to read my blog. Continue reading
Apple Pay – It’s complicated…
Took a while to crystallize some thoughts on Apple Pay, and having a sore throat meant it’s time to write instead of answering another call on the topic. All in all – the launch may have been exciting or uninspiring based on who you ask. But the truth is far more complicated – once you start to understand what this entails – such as the dynamics of the Apple – Issuer relationship, economics and a deeper look in to what Apple has sought to expose and keep out. As far as who is most impacted by today – I think we can say goodbye to the TSM’s forever. Even if they hope to convince to put SIM based Secure Elements on to iPhone6 and subsequent iterations, in my opinion – Apple would prefer a competing container to store payment credentials like it would want a third tit. The second one impacted is MCX. Third would be Discover/Paypal. Infact – if you paid notice to the press releases floated in the week before the Apple Pay launch (MCX CurrentC, Paypal API) – it would have been evident that these two had no role to play alongside in the oncoming Apple Pay launch. You wouldn’t risk the wrath of Apple if you were. Continue reading
For Apple, Payments is just the middle chapter
Despite sharing much perspective over the last few years on NFC, HCE, Tokenization and rest – I had not been an ardent fan when it came to Apple and NFC – going back to iPhone5. Simply put – it was not a scenario that made sense if you were Apple, when in my view – success depended on re-alignment of business models that have skewed towards networks and issuers over decades. Evaluating what I knew then to be true – I arrived at the belief that traditional NFC payments will find no backers in Cupertino. And thus – in the first part of my two part Apple piece – I referenced to Apple’s likely (pragmatic) approach to NFC: Continue reading
The diminishing aura and utility of Coin
Much has been written of late, about Coin and its peers. Coin, Loop and others are worthy emerging players who have focused on innovating on the edges of the current payments framework – and consider convenience a more lucrative goal vs disrupting it altogether. Despite bank’s aversion to having their brands wrapped by a 3rd party – Coin and its peers have much consumer support. I have little to say about the product as-is – I think it’s a sexy widget, but for me – I am too cheap to pay for a plastic replacement when I carry around one already. However I believe they are intentionally evasive when it comes to their respective roles in an EMV landscape. Much of that follows focuses on Coin, but really – applies to Loop and others as well. Continue reading