Having just completed a merchant survey, Retail CMOs were quite clear with their top 3 companies they would spend time with to improve eCommerce (payment focus):
Continue readingGoogle Payments – Why they will Win – Globally
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Tag Archives: apple
Scenario – Agentic Wallets and Federated Data
Keeping up with the latest in agentic commerce, artificial intelligence (AI), payments, and data privacy is an ongoing challenge. Data and LLM are the key ingredients fueling the rapid advancements in AI and machine learning innovations. As a privacy advocate, I remain deeply concerned about the centralization of data. Once AI models are built to understand “you,” they no longer need continuous access to your data—just ongoing observation (see blogs on Data Centralization and Payments and the Observer Effect).
Do I think wallets will become “Agents”? No, but they will be the most important interface to all Agents, as they broker identity, authentication, authorization, permissions and highly secure data in the handset. My view is that Wallets enable many agents. This view of the the world is called the Agentic Mesh where specialized agents work together to achieve a result.
Wallets and Networks: The Backbone of Digital Transactions
Stimulating community discussion is the #1 reason I write this blog. The intersection of payments, banking, and technology is evolving rapidly, and I’m fortunate to engage with great minds like Dave Birch and new friends like Simon Taylor. Dave’s recent post on crypto predictions got me thinking about a topic I keep coming back to—wallets and networks.
As a former banker, I’m naturally more skeptical about FinTechs disrupting the core of banking. Consumer behavior is incredibly difficult to change, and financial services are among the most competitive industries in the world. If there’s one concept where my perspective diverges from many thought leaders, it’s the power of bank networks (read more). These networks are the foundation of financial transactions, and they continue to define the way money moves.
Wrapping up 2024 – Key Areas I’m Tracking
As we wrap up 2024, I thought I’d outline a few key areas I’m tracking and things to look for in 2025.
Continue readingApple Opens NFC
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.
Google Secure Payment Authentication (SPA)
Read First – Blog on SPA from Checkout.com
Background Reading – June blog eCom politics and Scenarios, and Identity, Authentication and Risk
What’s the big news here? SPA allows Google to stand at par with ApplePay in providing the best-authenticated checkout experience. Google looks to have taken TWO MASSIVE pieces out of the authentication process: 1) 3DS handshake (putitting in Cryptogram and 2) A step up from the Issuer (possibly – a significant portion of this blog). This is a generational improvement and massive simplificaiton of the current 3DS flow.
The mobile platform is key to authentication and Google is the preferred partner of every bank, merchant and network. Their challenge in SPA? Doesn’t seem Checkout.com coordinated with the networks on SPA (ie liability shift OR step up). I think it will get worked out as the quality of this innovation is just fantastic.
As I wrote in June, ApplePay 2.0 plans to cross the chasm from mobile only to desktop (as announced at WWDC). Google is proving that they have the same capability, as Chrome makes up about 10-12% of eCom and over 30% of guest checkout at most retailers; they are positioned well (particularly in Android markets).
Continue readingeCom – Politics and Scenarios
Frank Young – Contributor
What are banks talking about this week? How did Apple’s announcement impact them? While 15bps on 2% of eCom GDV is a nuisance, 15bps on 15% of eComm GDV is an earthquake.
Bank Transformation – Actions for Banks to Succeed in the Storm of Disruption
A Framework for Collaboration – Taking Part in Consumer Journeys
16 Page Blog – 3 Page Exec Summary
Part 2 of Future of Retail Banking (2023). This blog has been sitting at 60% for 2 months now. Sorry for the delay. A bull case for V/MA and service expansion.
A storm is brewing that will dwarf the impact the internet (V1/V2) had on established business models. There are multiple transformations occurring simultaneously: AI/ML, Web3, Digital ID, DLT, open mandates, FinTech, Wallets, ….etc. (see Web3 and Small Wins). While large orchestrators and big tech dominate today due to their virtuous cycles, new forces push for the “break up” of Big Tech and centralized data stores to make the internet more democratic and more privacy friendly.
Short Blog – DOJ/Apple and Visa/MA Settlement
Apple/DOJ
Updated 3/28 to cover Honor All Wallets
Most of us saw the news on Friday that “The Justice Department, 15 states and the District of Columbia sued Apple on Thursday, alleging the tech giant makes it difficult for competitors to integrate with the iPhone” – WSJ 3/21
Part 1 – Identity Models, Government and Governance Structures
This is a big topic, and I’ll get a few things wrong. My mechanism for correcting my viewpoint is this blog, where this community gives feedback. It’s the reason I write. I won’t get into the tech weeds in this blog series. When there is a need to drill down on a standard or tech, I’ll provide a link to documents providing an overview. The insight I’m attempting to provide surrounds the evolution, economics and value chain implications of various models.
Why read this?
Identity is the key shaping force across many domains (including payments) because:
- ID touches “everything”,
- ID is the “primary key” in trust, risk, contracts and value exchange
- ID is core to a well-functioning government (voting, taxing, regulating, …etc).
This breadth makes it challenging to sift through ID-related announcements and assess the implications. Thus, I’ve created three identity communities for my taxonomy:
- Government – Working to define identity as part of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI). DPI has three legs: identity, payments and data exchange.
- Commercial – Platforms, Banks, Healthcare
- Web3/Blockchain/Social – Jack Dorsey is the unofficial spokesperson.
These communities find alignment in technology but are working toward different end goals with significant philosophical differences across communities, particularly regarding the role of government and near-term objectives. These differences surround the definition of trust, authority and governance structure, which is the focus of today’s blog.