Disruptors

Innovation is not a competition. If both incumbents and startups in the fintech market would just accept that, mobile wallets and broader payments applications would have already been realized, according to Jonathan Vaux, executive director of Visa Europe.

The new digital currency entrepreneurs are stripping the bitcoins from Bitcoin, building new iterations of the underlying blockchain technology without clinging to any digital currency token.

Google's planned integration of bill pay and presentment with its immensely popular Gmail service could quickly scoop away one of the stickiest offerings of online banking sites.

The mobile wallet market takes no prisoners. Startups and big companies have an even playing field, and many have already scrapped one or more products — while others have given up the fight entirely.

The coffee chain announced plans on March 18 to begin testing delivery in New York and Seattle, with the iconic 102-story office tower serving as its Big Apple proving ground. In New York, customers will order through a Starbucks website and eventually transition to its mobile app.

The mobile wallet landscape has always been dynamic, and recent consolidation and upheaval have changed it once again. As older products fade or rethink their model, newcomers are bringing bold new ideas to market.

It is fitting that Apple CEO Tim Cook opened the Apple Watch presentation by showing off a Mickey Mouse watch face. The Apple Watch shares a lot more than its design sense with Disney's successful MagicBand wearables.

Mobile technology has enabled financial services in a number of African countries, and MasterCard is working to expand this model by tying it directly to a national identity program in Egypt.

Francisco Gonzalez, who has been warning for almost a decade of the technological transformation set to engulf the financial industry, said at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona March 4 that his bank would define itself as a software company.

Here's the sales pitch: use the service as much as you want for a flat monthly fee of under $10, potentially saving money over paying per transaction. It sounds like Netflix, but it's a new and fairly unconventional approach to how Cardtronics is selling ATM access.

American retailers have struggled with mobile payments, largely because they try to reinvent the entire buying process instead of evolving what's already there. Starbucks' success is rooted in its willingness to take the easiest route time and again, an approach that is clear in how it chose to implement Apple Pay.

Google and Softcard have been fighting a long turf war to become the dominant mobile wallet for Android users. Softcard has finally conceded defeat, but Google still has much work ahead of it.

To stay ahead of the curve, business leaders must take advantage of every resource at their disposal, and many are looking outside the walls of their organization for new ways to spark the flame of innovation for the next big idea.

Google is buying some technology and intellectual property from the rival Android-based mobile wallet Softcard, giving Google a chance to finally put to bed several business problems that have plagued the company since it launched its mobile wallet in 2011.

Like a number of startups and "neobanks" that have sprouted up to challenge incumbent retail banks, Fidor Bank is positioning itself as a more consumer-friendly, tech-savvy alternative.

Bitcoin's premise is that an open-source computer protocol could support a new global currency, without reliance on the centralized power of banks and governments. But trusting a computer protocol, without human governance, doesn't make sense. As it stands, bitcoin's governance has a long ways to go before institutions would rely on this innovative but flawed currency as a store of value.

Apple Pay's contactless payment model may be straightforward and simple, but it's not the only way to move funds without cards and cash. Many companies are coming up with alternatives that work from phones, smartwatches and other devices.

Samsung's plan to acquire LoopPay gives the mobile phone maker a technology that can reach more merchants faster than Near Field Communication (NFC), the technology used by Apple Pay and Google Wallet.

Starbucks' decision to support Apple Pay within the coffee chain's mobile payment app seems like a natural alliance of two major forces in mobile payments, but it raises a significant question: Why not do the same with Square, with which Starbucks has much deeper ties?

Westpac New Zealand is launching a new "omnichannel" powered by responsive design technology and offering its customers Moven's money management tools, two firsts for the industry.