Will attachable credit card readers and their companion mobile apps would become the most widely adopted mobile payment technologies in future or the main rival technology, Near-field Communications (NFC)?

1. Are Card Readers the
Future of Mobile
Payments?

2. Will attachable credit card readers and their companion
mobile apps would become the most widely adopted mobile
payment technologies in future or the main rival technology,
Near-field Communications (NFC)?
According to a recent Mobile payment report from Business
Intelligence, which examined the main types of mobile
payments, analyzed the state of the mobile payments race,
examined the matchup between card readers and near-field
communications (NFC), looked at how traditional banks,
credit card companies, and card processors are responding
to the mobile payments threat, and detailed who is furthest
along in developing the all-in-one solution for merchants
and consumers, Credit card readers have better chances
of Winning the battle.

3. Where
things
currently
stand?
Near
Field
Communica0on,
also
known
as
NFC,
is
a
set
of
standards
for
smartphones,
credit
cards,
and
similar
devices,
to
communicate
with
similar
devices
by
bringing
them
close
to
each
other.
Nokia
,
Blackberry,
Samsung,
MicrosoA,
and
Google
(but
not
Apple)
have
all
been
suppor0ng
the
technology
in
their
opera0ng
systems
for
over
a
year
and
a
variety
of
devices
have
entered
the
market
with
the
appropriate
equipment
in
place.
Meanwhile,
the
biggest
players
in
the
credit
card
business
(Mastercard,
Visa,
American
Express)
and
some
of
the
largest
banks
and
payment
services
in
America
(Bank
of
America,
Ci0bank,
Wells
Fargo,
HSBC,
Paypal)
have
rolled
out
some
version
of
technology
across
their
infrastructure.
And
telecommunica0on
companies
like
AT&T,
Verizon,
and
T-­‐mobile
have
all
sworn
to
offer
services
in
2010.
But
s0ll
it
hasn’t
took
off.
Meanwhile,
companies
like
LevelUp
and
Square
are
increasing
their
footprints
in
the
phone
payment
space,
reducing
the
chances
that
NFC
could
take
off
as
a
form
of
payment
via
mobile
phones.

4. What
is
current
state
of
Mobile
payments?
Mobile
payments
adop8on
is
s8ll
very
low:
As
of
year-­‐end
2012,
only
7.9
million
U.S.
consumers
(less
than
90
percent
of
the
total)
had
adopted
a
consumer-­‐facing
NFC-­‐compa0ble
system
like
"Google
Wallet,"
or
apps
that
use
QR
codes
or
other
methods
to
generate
a
payment.
In-­‐store
mobile
payments
are
growing
quickly:
It
almost
quadrupled
last
year.
eMarketer
has
es0mated
in-­‐store
mobile
payments
as
adding
up
to
$640
million
in
transac0on
volume
in
the
U.S.,
up
from
$170
million
in
2011.
Though,
this
figure
does
not
include
swipes
on
mobile
credit
card
readers
like
Square
and
PayPal
Here,
only
consumer-­‐side
mobile
payments.
Card
readers
are
really
scaling
up
swi@ly:
Square's
mobile
payments
volume
rose
to
$10
billion
in
2012,
up
from
$2
billion
in
2011.
Starbucks
is
switching
its
credit
and
debit
card
processing
to
Square,
and
as
of
January
2013
accepts
the
"Square
Wallet"
app
at
7,000
loca0ons.
The
Starbucks
alliance
with
Square
is
evidence
of
how
the
card
reader-­‐based
approach
has
already
worked
its
way
deep
into
the
U.S.
consumer
economy.

5. What
is
current
state
of
Mobile
payments?
Mobile
commerce
is
also
helping
explosive
growth
of
Mobile
payments:
PayPal
processed
around
$14
billion
in
mobile
payments
last
year,
which
confirms
the
fact
that
mobile
is
catching
on
as
a
transac0onal
plaform.
PayPal
hopes
to
build
a
merchant-­‐powered
network
based
on
the
ubiquity
of
PayPal
as
a
payment
and
money
transfer
plaform.
PayPal
users
are
already
able
to
pay
at
thousands
of
tradi0onal
stores
by
keying
in
their
mobile
number
and
a
PayPal
PIN
selected
online
(or
in
their
PayPal
app).

6. Comparing
NFC
and
Card
Readers

7. Comparing
NFC
and
Card
Readers

8. Conclusion
Though
it
remains
to
be
seen
who
will
win
the
bagle,
but
as
one
can
easily
see
in
the
comparison,
card
readers
are
currently
winning
on
4
out
of
5
important
areas.
Credit
card
readers
have
gained
trac0on
because
they
allow
small
merchants
to
easily
transform
smartphones
or
tablets
into
payment
registers
by
agaching
a
plas0c
credit
card
reader
into
the
device's
audio
jack,
while
NFC
solu0ons
though
allow
people
to
pay
for
products
at
retail
stores
by
simply
waving
or
tapping
an
NFC-­‐enabled
phone
at
a
register,
it
requires
that
merchants
adopt
NFC-­‐ready
hardware,
and
that
phones
carry
an
NFC
chip.
Mobile
payments
future
will
also
be
depending
on
Apple,
as
the
iPhone
line
has
not
yet
adopted
NFC,
and
only
if
and
when
that
happens
will
NFC
have
a
shot
at
really
posing
a
threat
to
card
readers.
Otherwise
Credit
card
readers
will
further
improve
their
chances
of
winning
the
mobile
payment
bagle

9. You
can
also
reach
us
on:
Facebook
-­‐
www.facebook.com/TechAhead
Twiger
-­‐
www.twiger.com/TechAhead
LinkedIn
-­‐
www.linkedin.com/company/techahead
At
TechAhead,
we
have
helped
many
clients
incorporate
mobile
payments,
be
it
through
SMS,
Web/WAP
based,
NFC
etc.
Mobile
payments
and
mCommerce
are
on
a
boom,
and
every
business
should
make
best
out
of
this
opportunity.
If
you
are
a
business,
we
can
help
you
in
this.
For
any
mobile
apps
development
requirement,
get
in
touch
with
us
on
info@techaheadcorp.com
for
FREE
30
minutes
no
obliga0on
consulta0on
with
our
mobile
experts($200
Value).
Credits:
hgp://www.businessinsider.com
|
www.forbes.com