I know, I know - its been a while, thanks for the emails seeking my great wisdom - hardly worth mentioning the deficit of emails I have actually received, but I know that I have been living in the hearts of you all :o) But the truth is that very little have made me think in mobile money recently - Visa has continued to make mistakes that will eventually cost them dearly, MasterCard has kept on understanding its role in the ecosystem and have therefore been a shining star, the operators have done nothing of note (Isis is still not worth noting) and we are just as far along on the NFC track as we where Jan. 1st - or are we?
A couple of really interesting things have happened recently though, and I am not sure how many people have noticed, but a change has happened on the NFC front.
Historically we had a war with 2 camps banks/payments enablers vs. carriers. The war was mostly about who owned the customer relationship and how the ecosystem got paid while still maintaining the integrity of the data that was being transported.
That war still has skirmishes, but another war has started, in fact it may have been going on for at least the last 18 months (which is the approximate delivery time for a chip going into production until its available in a phone), but it has been going on in the deep shadows and procurements halls of companies with obscure names like NXP, Inside Secure and Gemalto (amongst others) - this war manifested itself the other day with an article openly talking about the topic.
The issue is essentially around whether the future of mobile payments (proximity) will reside on the handset manufacturers domain, in this case called the Embedded Secure Element (eSE) or the carriers domain the UICC - which is a SIM card with a Secure element included (USE).
RIM who has been loosing market share like Nokia, are trying to regain control over its destiny by turning into a consumer accepted brand (like Apple) from being primarily an enterprise brand - and it has turned out to be a harder transition than they expected. One of the last frontiers is the eSE which, if they get that, would allow them to generate a new revenue channel but also allow them to offer new services to their enterprise customers ex. is access controls (fobs). for carriers its about not loosing yet another fight after the LBS and content fiascos.
The interesting thing is that the fight went from being about business models, to being about technology with a business perspective - normally its the other way around. First we fight about technology and then the business, but this time the operators got blindsided and RIM who is running an announced trial with Bank of America and a rumored trial with Isis, are now well into deploying the solution. Notice though that Tobin says that RIM will continue to be pro carriers - the outcome will remain unanswered for a little bit still.
My fundamental issue and I guess question is "Would you, a John Doe customer really trust Apple, RIM or Google with your credit cards?" I know I wouldnt! I do think however that Google has a play in coupons at point of sale, and Apple in some remote payments capacity - but not in proximity.
I have, together with some friends, had unauthorized itunes transactions and when I call Apple I am informed that I should call the police and file a complaint. Obviously their "geniuses" are not equipped to solve real problems, just issues around when the next Ipad2 shipment is arriving oh and they are very very good at taking my order and my money.
I would be the first to admit that carriers are not the best at handling even their core business, and banks are not much better either, but both takes the responsibility very serious (ATT just made a $40bn investment in their customer base and the data streams), and thats what I need as a customer, a provider who take me serious when I call them.
Over the next couple of months this battle will unfold and I am sitting on the bleachers with a bucket of popcorn.
Game on, let me know if you hear anything or have some considerations I should know...
