What's up with NFC?
I was looking through your website for info. I discovered glos NFC was being touted as the next big thing in payments as far back as eight years ago. The first mention in your archives was in "Put your wallet away, but keep that cell phone handy" (May 2004).
At that time, you wrote that Visa was planning to "incorporate wireless technologies, including RFID, infrared and a new standard called near-field communication (NFC) in programs for contactless card payments" in the United States.
In your June 2006 "Pay phone redux: Are cell phones the new payments frontier?" article, you stated that "new advances in contactless technology - radio frequency identification (RFID) and especially near field communication (NFC) - will soon enable consumers to make payments with ease by tapping or holding up their cell phones, just like some already do with contactless bankcards." This was based on Celent research done at that time.
With the Isis launch sputtering and alternative forms of payment cropping up everywhere, I'd like to know what others think about NFC's true potential to get a piece of the mobile pie.
Cory Melfield
Merchant Level Salesperson
Cory,
Thank you for perusing our archives. It is a virtual compendium of payments industry history, and we are delighted you have found it useful in your research.
NFC has the backing of the major card brands, and it is impossible to discount their clout in all things related to payments. Also, Isis, which relies on NFC technology, is jointly owned by three major mobile phone carriers, and their reach is substantial, obviously.
That said, disruptors are making headway in the payments sphere with incredible speed. And observers agree that, at this point, there seem to be no winners emerging in the fight for dominance in the mobile payments sphere.
Apple Inc. didn't include NFC capability in its latest iPhones and iPads. The newly established Merchant Customer Exchange, a retailer-backed mobile payment technology company, does not embrace NFC, nor do PayPal Inc. and Square Inc.
And merchants have expressed fear that upgrading to NFC-capable terminals could be a wasted investment. However, NFC could be incorporated in the upgrade to Europay/MasterCard/Visa-compatible terminals being mandated by the card brands. NFC also appears to have made significant headway in the closed-loop transit arena.
We can all make predictions, but we cannot see into the future. Mobile payment developments comprise an exciting aspect of payments, one we need to keep watching and learning about. Thank you for contributing to the discussion. We hope others will join in, too.
Editor
Selling on fairness
Steve Norell, author of "Avoid the price pitfall, sell on fairness," The Green Sheet, Oct. 8, 2012, issue 12:10:01, received kudos from members of GS Online's MLS Forum. BILLPIRTLE said, "Fantastic article on page 62 of the new issue (10/8/2012) http://www.greensheet.com/gsonline_pdfs/121001.pdf." BANKCARDREP posted next: "Second that. Great job, Steve." To see more comments about this article, please visit the MLS Forum thread at www.greensheet.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=38737. Thanks to all who took the time to comment.
Editor
Whats your take on training?
To further the discussion of education in our industry, we'd like to know about your experiences with professional training as an ISO or MLS. What has worked best for you? What hasn't worked at all? Have you taken the CPP exam? If so, what did you think of it? If you haven't taken it, what are your reasons for holding off? Reach out to us via email at greensheet@greensheet.com, by phone at 800-747-4441, on Facebook at or on Twitter using @the_green_sheet.
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