I saw the future at the Northeast Acquirers Association conference in January and realized I had seen it before.
I first saw what was to be in payments more than a year ago, when Twitter Inc. co-founder and wunderkind Jack Dorsey announced a point-of-sale acceptance service called Square that everyday merchants could use without a contract or monthly fees. It occurred again when VeriFone Systems Inc., Ingenico S.A., North American Bancard, Intuit Inc. and others rolled out similar services, though nuanced enough to differentiate them within the market.
The future appeared to me again when I observed a Starbucks patron trying to pay for a cup of coffee with the company's mobile-payment app that generates a barcode on a smartphone the cashier scans to complete the transaction. It was not a smooth process, especially when viewed against the faster and less-cumbersome transaction I made with my debit card.
Now, however, I am starting to wonder if all these emerging payment techniques really are all that innovative in that they change how consumers pay.
This epiphany blossomed during Donna Embry's presentation at the Northeast Acquirers Association conference. Embry is a senior vice president at Payment Alliance International and a member of ISO&Agent's Editorial Advisory Board.
Specifically, it was slide eight of her presentation on "Demystifying Alternative And Mobile Payments."
That slide lists many of the emerging entrants into payments, including such companies as Bling Nation Ltd. and Acculynk; the medium they use-mostly the Internet and some mobile; and the payment type accepted.
The payment still happened as it always has, but in a different medium.
Another aspect of Embry's presentation stood out. Would ISOs and acquirers have a role in the future? Very much so, she said. "ISOs will be a key distribution channel," Embry said.
With an estimated 5 million U.S. small merchants, according to Visa Inc., going direct for sales would be a Herculean feat for many companies. Didn't acquiring banks see the future and realize they could not reach every merchant individually?
Kevin Woodward
Editor
