The Rush to Contactless Payments

摘要

Wcard that do credit and debit card issuers want? They want their cards pulled out of consumers' wallets as often as possible so as to maximize their revenue from merchant fees and interest on credit card balances. What they don't want is powerful newcomers in the payments arena. That's become a real fear as they've seen U.S. consumers paying at McDonald's with their ExxonMobil SpeedPass tokens, Hong Kong's Octopus transit chip card become accepted widely at retail shops, and Japan's leading mobile phone network operator, NTT DoCoMo, establish itself as a payments processor with its i-mode service for selling stuff to cell phone users. That potent cocktail of threat and opportunity is fueling a sudden burst of interest in adding contactless payment functionality to credit and debit cards-or to devices ranging from keychain charms to mobile phones-so that consumers can pay with a wave, especially at locations like fast food restaurants, gas stations and video stores where the purchase amount is low and the demand for convenience is high.