How significantly will smartphones disrupt the electronic payment industry?
Payments
Asked by Question Bot12/Jun/20131 answer
1 Answer
F
Faisal Khan
Answered 12/Jun/2013
The short answer is: Who knows?
Most likely it will be extremely difficult to disrupt the VISA / Mastercard ecosystem. They are really well trenched. Trenched in all manners:
As Peter Berg cited, no one has truly disrupted PayPal as of yet, despite the market being so ever ready for a new payment system. Sure there are alternatives, but they lack the super-traction that the traditional card payment companies have on ground today.
Farhad Manjoo wrote what I would consider a masterpiece of an article in Fast Company titled The Great Tech War Of 2012. It is a must read on the subject, as it addresses the payment systems rollout that could possibly play out. Do read it. It offers a fantastic insight.
However, this does not mean that other players (in the field) or those sitting on the benches (outside the payments playing field) have not thought about giving payments a go. Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple are all looking at the payments landscape with a very keen eye. What each of them is doing with respect to going global truly with their huge consumer base... honestly, no one knows. We keep getting snippets of information here and there, but nothing solid as of know. Some say, these large companies are testing the waters, refining the business model when it comes to payments and their unique offering. Some say, it is already in play, albeit in a much slower fashion (Google Wallet for example).
The question that begs to be asked is... If these players will fuse themselves with the likes of VISA / Mastercard or go solo. Perhaps it can be a bit of both. This remains to be seen as the game is still in play.
Most likely it will be extremely difficult to disrupt the VISA / Mastercard ecosystem. They are really well trenched. Trenched in all manners:
- Brand
- Security
- Network (Outreach)
- Partners
- Product Line
- Comfort (Consumer Confidence)
- Value Proposition
- Transaction Volume/Value, etc.
As Peter Berg cited, no one has truly disrupted PayPal as of yet, despite the market being so ever ready for a new payment system. Sure there are alternatives, but they lack the super-traction that the traditional card payment companies have on ground today.
Farhad Manjoo wrote what I would consider a masterpiece of an article in Fast Company titled The Great Tech War Of 2012. It is a must read on the subject, as it addresses the payment systems rollout that could possibly play out. Do read it. It offers a fantastic insight.
However, this does not mean that other players (in the field) or those sitting on the benches (outside the payments playing field) have not thought about giving payments a go. Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple are all looking at the payments landscape with a very keen eye. What each of them is doing with respect to going global truly with their huge consumer base... honestly, no one knows. We keep getting snippets of information here and there, but nothing solid as of know. Some say, these large companies are testing the waters, refining the business model when it comes to payments and their unique offering. Some say, it is already in play, albeit in a much slower fashion (Google Wallet for example).
The question that begs to be asked is... If these players will fuse themselves with the likes of VISA / Mastercard or go solo. Perhaps it can be a bit of both. This remains to be seen as the game is still in play.