G+_Martin Watson Posted January 7, 2016 Share Posted January 7, 2016 Listening to Episode 247, the discussion regarding payment methods got me to thinking. There was a question as to whether mobile payments are something, or just a niche thing. The problem is, for the tech community, it absolutely is something to watch. However, you have to remember that you guys work in and around the tech community, so you are around things like this all day. I am a geek and look forward to the convenience of mobile payments, but in my experience, most people don't understand, or even know anything about them. Those that even have an inkling, mostly don't care, because they look at it and don't see the benefits. As an example, I was in the supermarket today and decided to hold my phone up to the credit card terminal at the self checkout to see if it worked (it didn't), and the attending cashier came running over acting like I was trying to crack the terminal. So far, the only places I've successfully gotten mobile payments to work are at McDonald's, Walgreen's, and the diner I frequent. Additionally, there are still a few things that need to be worked out. First, there needs to be a quick and easy way of switching the card that you want to use DURING PAYMENT. I currently use my debit card, but there are times I would prefer to use a different card. I'll admit that I know this is a problem for Android Pay, but I don't use Apple Pay, so I do not know if the problem exists there as well. I think that mobile payments are inevitable, but I feel like there needs to be more education and marketing by the powers that be (Google, Apple). It feels like a capability such as this should be exhibited more enthusiastically, maybe playing up the merchants that accept the payments as an incentive to get others to switch. Also, a focus on the big AND small merchants would be a good way to get some of the lesser one's to make the switch. Importantly, this should NOT require the merchants to pay to be featured. Right now, the benefits are hard to see because you usually still have to carry your cards in your wallet. More often than not, the technology is not available, and you will need to use your cards anyway. The switch to fingerprint and other biometric authentication are a big plus, because it removes, or at least somewhat mitigates, the time needed to log onto the phone to provide confirmation. My apologies for the long post, but I've had a lot on my mind concerning this recently, and decided to put my thoughts out there. I have additional thoughts, but decided I should wrap this up before I write a book instead of an essay. Additional thoughts/ideas are welcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Marlon Thompson Posted January 7, 2016 Share Posted January 7, 2016 You asked if you could switch between cards with Apple Pay, yep and its easily done. http://www.imore.com/passbook-makes-switching-between-different-credit-cards-apple-pay-simple-video Samsung pay also allows for this level of flexibility, once you get the card in the app you can use it and switch to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Marlon Thompson Posted January 7, 2016 Share Posted January 7, 2016 BTW one thing I want to point out about Ron Richards experience is that he uses it where he knows it will be supported and he previously has been using Google Wallet, so he would have had a few years experience, and his judgement would be based on and improved experience over time, basically Ron uses android pay confidently . Anytime I hear Jason talk about using mobile payment it seems as if he uses it with some trepidation and I think that impacts on his personal user experience. So basically Ron judges his experience with Android pay based on all his successes and Jason judges it on his failures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Paul Werner Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 Lately in my area (Milwaukee, WI) I found the adoption of the Chip & Pin having a way higher failure rate than Android Pay. Most of the places have the terminal but they always seem to tell you, "Oh we don't have that turned on yet but... soon" ? which I can't stand. Any place with the NFC symbol has worked without fail for some time now (years) so I first look for that before deciding to grab any cards. Possible effect from Apple Pay sure but I don't mind as I'd rather use my phone to pay. I agree that choosing the card at POS would be a benefit but I'm so used to the way it is now (prior to you tapping) that I'd hope it'd be an option so I don't have one extra step at the terminal for every single transaction when most of my purchases are made with one of my cards anyway? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Robert Blois Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 Marlon Thompson I agree that both of their opinions are based on their experiences, and neither of them are wrong for what they say. I believe that there is better adoption where they are due to their proximity to Silicon Valley. In my case, I live near New York City, but it doesn't seem to have helped. At least not in the places that I frequent. Additionally, I refuse to hand my phone over to someone at a restaurant or drive-thru to use Android Pay, so there may be other places that support it, but I think that is just asking for all kinds of trouble. Also, thanks for the heads up on switching cards with Apple Pay. I do not use it, but am curious on its feature set/usability comparative to Android Pay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Robert Blois Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 Andrew Uschold I agree. All of my cards now support the chip, but its amazing how many places don't support it. And most of them have terminals that have the slot for it, but it hasn't been enabled. Even in those places that do support it, I strongly disagree that it should be chip and SIGN. Chip and sign gains us nothing. I expect that the reason is that they don't want to just switch people to using a PIN when they've been used to a signature for so long, but the cardholder should have the option of which s/he would like to use. The cardholder should be able to go to their bank and say that I don't want any transactions authorized unless they are by PIN. Right now, with chip and signature, there are no benefits when shopping online. However, assuming that merchants can be barred from storing the PIN, there is some protection when the database from a merchant is stolen. I know that there is the CVC number on the back, but considering that the PIN is something that is supposedly coming, it's something to think about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Robert Blois Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 Paul Werner I agree. It should be an option whether to prompt or not. If someone only wants to use one card for the majority of purchases, then it wouldn't make sense for that person to have to select their card every time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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