7 Ways Mobile Mixes Poorly with EMV
October 9, 2015 12:17 PM
BASHTA
EMV card acceptance has often been pitched as a catalyst for mobile wallets, since the terminal upgrades needed to accept EMV-chip cards could also enable contactless mobile payments. But mobile and EMV are not always on the same path.
Mobile Moving Faster
In the case of gas stations , mobile payment options are arriving faster than EMV. Though gas stations have a longer timeframe for EMV adoption, this is still an impressive feat considering that there remains a widespread perception that using a phone near a gas pump is a fire hazard.
Angel Navarrete/Bloomberg
Tech Timing
In the U.S., EMV is coming slowly to the mobile point of sale. PayPal began offering its EMV-enabled reader only a day before the EMV liability shift deadline, and Square still lists its combined EMV and Apple Pay reader as "coming soon."
Small Companies in Chaos
Though EMV is portrayed as an enabler of mobile wallets, for some merchants it adds to an increasingly confusing message . The technology needed to support EMV, Apple Pay, Android Pay, Samsung Pay, CurrentC and numerous industry-specific platforms can be overwhelming for smaller merchants.
E-Commerce and M-Commerce Conflict
Another conflict EMV presents is with the e-commerce business model and, by extension, the mobile commerce model. Any online or mobile merchant that stores account data will find that data rendered obsolete for U.S. issuers that assign new account numbers when they send out EMV cards.
Debit Drags
Though Apple Pay has been around for only a year, Android Pay and Google Wallet are compatible with phones that consumers have used for several years. Meanwhile, the delay in debit EMV issuance in the U.S. has led to predictions that just 25% of U.S. debit cards will have EMV chips by the end of 2015, according to Discover's Pulse.
Kelvin Lee
Too Many Secrets
The secrecy Apple imposed ahead of Apple Pay's launch made it hard for issuers to understand what was being asked of them, especially since they were laser-focused on EMV. "We were a little curious why our Visa rep was talking about this thing called tokenization ," said Scott Young, Pentagon FCU's vice president of card services, at SourceMedia's recent PayThink event.
Richard Thomas
Restaurants' Reservations
Sit-down dining establishments will have to overhaul the way they handle payments, such as by accepting card payments at the table rather than taking the cards to a register. Some restaurants are considering moving to a mobile payment system as an alternative to this process.
