Money2020 Expo - Key Conversations and Companies & Services to Watch

By Randy Smith,

Mobile Wallet Media

November 2, 2012

Is Bluebird the way to fly in prepaid? This monthly fee free model will do well.

The focus of the event was clear. Mobile and Digital Wallets are the future. Many great insights were shared by top executives, providing a preview of their direction and focus.

You would never have guessed this was the premier event for Money2020 Expo. The abundance, quality and diversity of keynote speakers, presenters, panels, moderators, exhibitors and attendees would, if you were an industry outsider, make you think the event had been held for years. It was impossible to capture it all and attend all panels and meetings! I'll start with companies I interviewed.

American Express

Joanna Lambert of American Express shared with me a bit of the company's vision and focus of the future:

"We want our Serve app to be used several times a day. This requires an intuitive interface focused on saving time and money. Maybe it's saving a trip to the bank or receiving a notification from your local bakery when the when rolls are hot and fresh? . . . We want to help merchants to drive incremental value and increase consumer loyalty . . . We are very open to partnering to reach our goal of being agnostic . . . With Bluebird our aim is to make loading money and transacting as fast and simple as possible . . . We are spending a lot of time asking what consumers want. We are transitioning from payments company to a service company."

I've always seen Amex as delivering extra value via services like OPEN and their concierge services. If they can continue to provide that extra value and merge it with Serve, I believe this is a winning formula. By the way, we all can take part of Amex's upcoming nationwide event, Small Business Saturday. This event on November 24th has the right focus, social strategy and charm to make for a big hit in supporting your local small business. Check it out and spread the word!

First Data

I sat down with Dominic Morea and Mark Herrington of First Data to hear first hand about their new merchant and consumer engagement platform Universal Commerce.

Dominic and Mark shared: "Universal Commerce is a framing strategy. We've realigned product around this concept. We reach over half of the terminals in the U.S. and paired with our Open API - Rapid Connect. New value-added services and offers tied to transactions can be delivered seamlessly. We have the ability to recognize a consumer and link relevant offers.  We can help publishers with precise results."

I've looked far and wide and First Data does have a solid vision about a the future of connected or Universal Commerce. It's worth taking a look at their 3-minute video below about Universal Commerce.

First Data's Vision of Universal Commerce

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The Future of Money - See with 2020 Vision!

By Randy Smith,

Mobile Wallet Media

October 26, 2012

If innovation is the future, understanding innovation is what matters most.

Today, rather than just telling you what I think may be the future of money, I want to start by first taking a look at innovation itself. Plato can be attributed with originating the concept that "Necessity is the Mother of Invention." Innovators like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates helped to shape the future of much of the technology we use today. If we can better understand how they knew what products and services were necessary or in demand, then perhaps we too can forge a clear path forward into the future of commerce. In looking back, we can peer forward and know that history often repeats itself.

So we will begin by observing what they saw and how they came to the conclusions they did. What Bill and Steve had was a knowledge base solid enough to understand the core problems.

This article is published just as when Microsoft has launched a bold new Windows 8. It will make them or break them, but it is innovative. Circling back to 1975, Bill Gates, the co-founder and chairman of Microsoft, and other programmers were writing BASIC (a programming language) and computers were in their infancy. That same year Bill partnered with Paul Allen to form Microsoft. Bill developed the insight and smarts to understand the current barrier to the evolution of software and computers was an operating platform upon which other programs could run. Bill knew what was needed by IBM and all he needed to do was find or develop the software that could serve as this platform or OS. So what Bill had done to be in position to solve the problem was to understand what the main problem was, and how to fix it. He could not have done this if he did not understand the entire ecosystem and he was not networked enough to set meetings. As the story goes, Bill secured a contract with IBM to build their software platform and purchased an OS from Tim Paterson of Seattle Computer Company for $50,000. This operating software came to be known as DOS.

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Search, Social or SuperCommerce? Future Universal Commerce Gateways

By Randy Smith,

Mobile Wallet Media

October 19, 2012

How will retail sales soar in the coming years?

Search + Social + Savings + Sharing + Reviews + Products + Big Data + Proximity + Security + Fun + Video + Pics + CPG Offers + ? (TBD) + Mobile Wallet = SuperCommerce

The Mobile Wallet will be at the crossroads of ALL commerce by delivering unparalleled convenience!

Google, Facebook, Apple, PayPal, ISIS, LevelUp, MCX, Square, payment networks, banks, processors and dozens more are key players in the battle for transactional revenues and the future gateway to consumer commerce. We'll drill deep to get a core sample of the future of mobile commerce.

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Mobile Contactless Payment Innovations Summit - Key Quotes/Takeaways

By Randy Smith,

Mobile Wallet Media

October 16, 2012

"The one who enrolls, is the one that controls."

Richard Crone of Crone Consulting speaking about the control of 'Big Data' via Mobile Wallets.

"We must get away from the idea of wanting to control the customer. Today the way you control the customer is to provide value. We just need to confirm ID at POS. Does your new product integrate with all systems and will it scale?"

Amir Wain, CEO of I2C, Inc.

Many profound insights were shared at the 5th MCPI Summit in Chicago on October 2-3.

This event delivered expert opinion from a diverse perspective. In writing this article I could have spun up a short and simple summary with just the key takeaways. However, this event had so many relevant conversations I thought it best to just deliver the conversations as they happened, while screening out the non-essentials. Sort of like using your DVR to watch a football game or favorite TV show.

The host and moderator for many panels was Karen Webster, the CEO of Market Platform Dynamics and President of PYMNTS.com. I've always been a fan of Karen's articles and case studies!

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Bridging The POS GAP - Disruption is Overdue!

By Randy Smith,

Mobile Wallet Media

October 10, 2012

NFC is the Tortoise and QR/2D bar codes are the Hare, but is there a Cheetah that might chase down the Hare and further stall the Tortoise?

And in the end, who will be the Lion and King of the mobile payments?

In thinking of proper analogies regarding NFC in mobile payments and wallets, an 'Arranged Marriage' is what comes to mind. It best suites the incumbent parties (networks, banks and equipment providers) and leaves the groom (NFC-Wallets) and bride (merchants) hoping it works out well.

Why does NFC suite the incumbents so well? NFC requires a reader in the terminal and is designed work in conjunction with conventional banking and prccessing methods. As Jerry Seinfeld might say "Not that there's anything wrong with this." But as the marriage has been delayed, the bride is becoming restless and questioning if the arranged marriage will be worth it. Retailers, the bride, know what they want (MCX), but remain open to other suitors that are now wooing them away from the marriage with NFC: Pay with Square, LevelUp, PayPal, Apple (? - said no to NFC) and more! With NFC, it takes the phone and terminal to engage and so the retailers are looking at other options to fuel their desire to gain mobile payment engagement.

In relating NFC to mobile payments, the core purpose of mobile payments is enhanced convenience, speed, security and decreased costs for merchants and consumers alike. The NFC and Mobile Payments marriage may end up producing these results, but it sure seems like the marriage is traveling on a rocky road and is still yet a fragmented arrangement. A single standard has yet to emerge and merchants are wary of investing in technology that is not ubiquitous or may be 'Dinosaur Tech' in 6-18 months.

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PayPal + Discover = Dynamic Duo that could also be THE Disruptive Duo!

By Randy Smith,

Mobile Wallet Media

October 5, 2012

I think we've only seen the tip of the iceberg here. Discover was once the 'New kid on the block,' as was PayPal. Now both are firmly established as the number 4 and 5 players in payments. These two companies have incredibly complimentary strengths. Discover has much room to grow and PayPal has always been the innovator and wants to expand it's presence from the online to the physical world. Their current partnership is one that is mutually beneficial. PayPal rides the rails of Discover's acceptance in the real-world stores and Discover taps into PayPal's Digital Wallet, alternative payment methods and their as 110-million+ regular users and 9-million+ merchants.

IF they can figure out how to BEST LEVERAGE each other's strengths, they could both DOUBLE their market share in as fast as 2 YEARS! Yes, I'm saying as they do on infomercials, "But wait there's more!"

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Embracing Innovation is Answer to Tech Disruption at the WSSA Conference

By Randy Smith,
Mobile Wallet Media
September 29, 2012

The Western States Acquirers Conference had high impact statements and speakers delivered in a small package. Two of the general sessions were "Embracing Change; Staying Relevant in the Changing Payments Landscape" and "Future of Acquiring . . . Will you Wipe Out or Catch the Big One?" The wake-up call to reality is ringing and it is time to answer the call. If you can't beat the join them, might provide the answer.



It seems like the overarching message being delivered here was, don't panic, but do take action now! Attending diverse trade shows in this past year and past 15 years, I've come to hear the words 'Disruption' and 'Innovation' a lot. These two words, in 2012 have lead the pack for trendy words used in business and technology. The words address the issue of change and remaining 'relevant,' also another trendy word in our vocabulary today.

The word Disruption in Silicon Valley and the tech industry represents a method of being innovative by creatively solving problems or providing a solution that could be done in a much better, simpler, quicker or more cost-efficient way. Disruption is innovation and vice-versa. It is only when it is you that is being disrupted that it is viewed with disdain or threat. But this is business and competition and change is always the constant. To stick your head in the sand and think that things will remain the same as they have always been is strategy that will deliver your worst fears to become reality.

Innovation is offense. It is moving the ball forward and the best defense is a great offense. The SR-71 BlackBird was developed in the 1960's by Lockheed Corporation. It can fly as high an altitude as 100,000 feet with 3 times the speed of sound (3.5 Mach). It was in use by USAF for 40 years and was retired in 1998. It actually had no defensive weapons, but relied solely on it's speed, stealth and maneuverability to evade it's enemies. In all it's years of service it was never shot down. But even it was retired after 30+ years in service. Why? It was retired because the next generation of technology was ready to replace it. And now is the time that new innovation is replacing the status quo.

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