It’s been a long time coming, but mobile payments have finally arrived. Established payments companies are innovating constantly; start-ups are disrupting the status quo by targeting niche markets—creating new markets even, as in the case of Square and SumUp targeting micro-merchants. But we haven’t yet seen any truly ground-breaking innovation nor a resounding success that has been replicated across multiple target audiences or geographies. This is partly due to security and regulatory concerns and, of course, an ever changing landscape. What is evident however is that without consumers and merchants buying in, success in mPayments will elude the MNOs, Telcos, banks and payment companies irrespective of their efforts and innovations.In our newsletter, we set the scene with an introductory note from Brett King (founder and CEO of Moven) followed by a bird’s eye view of the mPayments space, the players and what they are up to, the barriers to success and how they are being negotiated. And like all good mPayments experts, we speculate on its future. We map out the important M&A trends and activity in mPayments—always a reliable indicator of confidence in the sector—and follow it with a case study on Visa. Another case study focuses on Zapp, a major new mobile payments initiative launched by Vocalink in the UK that Anthemis helped bring to life. When it launches in 2014, Zapp’s aim is to allow consumers to make real-time, 24/7 payments at retailers and businesses directly from their bank accounts using their mobile phone.
Our in-house experts weigh in with some interesting insights: identifying the top five ways to pave the way for mPayments’ success, debating how and if mPayments can be profitable, and how they are changing our lives, one transaction at a time. From there, we examine how financial service providers are now turning to software-based
solutions. Given the contested nature of mPayments, we have interviewed three industry experts, covering topics ranging from the future of NFC to the shining promise of emerging markets. Although each comes on board with different viewpoints, the consensus is that the current scenario of M&A and experimentation is just part of the growing-up process.
We would love to hear your opinion/suggestions. Email us as editor@anthemis.com.
The Anthemis Newsletter: Trends in mPayments by anthemisgroup