Apple Opens NFC. Just off the phone with Apple. They were nice enough to treat me as a journalist and I was able to ask a few questions.
Category Archives: mobile money
Apple Wallet “2.0” in iOS18 – What’s In It?
Winners: Consumers, Merchants, Banks, Networks and Affirm
Losers: Branded PayPal and Venmo
Apple’s WWDC is on Day 2. Today we will see significant enhancements to ApplePay and Wallet in forthcoming iOS18 (to be released this fall). Here are the highlights in order of impact.
1 – ApplePay in eCom
ApplePay will be supported in every browser. This will be a game changer and dramatically increase payment volume flowing through Apple wallet (and their platform). Just last week, the WSJ published a great piece on why retailers hate that consumers make large purchases on their computers. Apple will expand ApplePay to support all browsers AND provide a major upgrade in experience, security and fraud.
Continue readingApplePay gets iOS Competition – Curve
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The Times (London) Article – May 29 2024
In January of this year, Apple offered commitments to the EU to assuage their concerns about NFC payments and mobile wallets related to the EU’s Marketplace Fairness Act (MFA—see blog). Apple’s approach follows Google’s model in Host Card Emulation (HCE—see Apple Developer Doc).
Visa Expands the Pipe
Flexible Credentials
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Background
Visa’s network is the largest commercial network in the world, moving over $15T in volume over 4.3B cards in over 200 countries. Visa’s core is called VisaNet, a real-time messaging network between banks. They don’t move money but send instructions to and from banks, merchants, consumers and other approved third parties. The banks move the money, primarily through net settlement on ACH. The beauty behind Visa’s network is its operating model, which allows thousands of partners to invest billions of dollars. To defeat Visa, you not only have to create a better network, but you must also create a better economic model for EVERYONE to switch, AND overcome the combined investment of all current stakeholders. This is why SEPA failed (see Power of Bank Networks).
Apple opens NFC to developers due to EU pressure
Why are US Banks Building a Wallet?
This week, I outlined several of the friction points in the US card payment network in US Payments Where to Invest. Today let me try to articulate a few reasons why US banks are attempting to build a new eCommerce Wallet (Paze) as well as some additional merchant commentary on their efforts.
CFPB probe of Apple Pay
© Starpoint LLP, 2022. No part of this site, blog.starpointllp.com, may be reproduced or retransmitted in whole or in part in any manner without the permission of the copyright owner.
The CFPB issued a new report last week on the impact that Apple/Google have on payments. Some key excerpts below
I see this as round 4 for Apple. The first rounds were fought with mobile operators and their GSMA TSM vision. The next with Australia (2016) then EU (2019). I find the timing of this report very interesting. As CFPB report came just months after US Issuers pushed Apple to eliminate its 15bps fee (a fee they voluntarily signed up for). I wonder if the CFPB knew that the Issuers collectively sought to eliminate the fee, or that they would like to expand PAZE to NFC/POS in order to lock a new wallet app which would DECREASE BANK COMPETITION (and cut out Apple).
Wallets, APIs and Trust
6 Page Blog
Top of mind today are Wallets, Identity and Application Program Interfaces (APIs). APIs are the core concept behind many new business models investors must decipher:
- Software as a Service (SaaS)
- Payments as a Service (PaaS)
- Banking as a Service (PaaS)
- Open Banking – PISP, AISP, ..etc
- Account Aggregation – FDX, Plaid, Akoya, … etc
- Payment Service Provider (PSP) – Stripe, Adyen, PYPL/Braintree, … etc
Previously, I’ve covered this topic in Open Banking and Open Payments and Trust Networks (2020) Part 3 – Internet 2.5 (2022), Modularity and Trust (2022) and Evolution of V/MA – Moving Beyond Cards (2021). Summary points from these previous blogs:
Continue readingBack from Europe
Sorry for the long quiet period. My youngest just graduated High School and as a WWII history buff, his gift was the Band of Brothers tour from Normandy to Salzberg. We came away with a new appreciation for the cost of freedom and the sacrifices made all of those in the armed forces.
European Payment Insights
Covid had put a long pause on my travel to Europe. In the 6 countries we visited I was pleasantly surprised at the broad acceptance of contactless and tap to pay. Beyond tapping with my iPhone, most restaurants first attempted to tap cards before a “dip”. Contactless now comprises ~60% of POS transactions, a behavior 3-5 yrs more advanced than the US and certainly one of the drivers of card GDV growth in the EU. The V/MA position is Europe is perhaps stronger than in any other market, as any new scheme would also need to integrate seamlessly into this acceptance (and presentment) infrastructure.
Continue readingFuture of Retail Banking – Part 5
This is the last of my 5 part blog series that started over 6 months ago. As a pragmatist, my views will likely be unpopular (and perhaps incorrect), but they are informed. Most of this blog will be obvious to US Retail Bankers and payment teams; the more interesting parts may be around Fintech and Asia. The exec summary captures the entire blog, it’s a new format.. I’m going to break down the detail of these points in separate posts. Today is Part A
For quick reference, I’ve listed the links to the previous blogs.
- Part 1 – US Payments Environment – Drivers of Change
- Part 2 – Power of Bank Networks
- Part 3 – Last Mile: Internet 2.5 – Embedding Financial Services
- Part 4 – Network Innovation – The Efficacy of V/MA
- Part 5 – Future of Retail/Commercial Banking … What Will Define Bank Success?
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