NFC

The U.S. is already very late to the party when it comes to contactless payments. But even so, there are signs that many merchants still aren't prepared for an influx of contactless cards.

JCPenney ended support for Apple Pay in its stores and also removed the mobile payment option from its app, a surprising reversal for a brand that offered Apple Pay in 2015, within a year of its rollout. There are multiple factors in play here.

Wells Fargo & Co. has committed to converting all of its payment cards to contactless technology, beginning with credit cards and adding contactless debit cards this summer.

Mastercard has spent years attempting to overhaul transit payments to allow riders to pay with a contactless credit or debit card. This time around, it expects Apple Pay to play a significant role.

Mobile technology provider Mahindra Comviva developed a software integration for issuing banks and third-party digital wallet providers to add contactless payment capabilities to their mobile products in India.

It may take several more months of testing before it is deployed in a payments application, but a new money transfer specification the NFC Forum has developed carries the organization's promise of becoming an alternative to QR-code technology.

Pentagon Federal Credit Union, JPMorgan Chase, Capital One, Citigroup and a handful of others have pumped more than 100 million contactless credit and debit cards altogether into the U.S. market recently, but it’s a drop in the bucket in the world’s largest card market.

JPMorgan Chase, Capital One, Citigroup, Pentagon Federal Credit Union and a handful of others have pumped more than 100 million contactless credit and debit cards altogether into the U.S. market recently, but it’s a drop in the bucket in the world’s largest card market.

The U.S. has long lagged in contactless payment adoption — despite aggressive efforts to bring the technology to market years ago — but there’s finally signs of a turnaround as more consumers and merchants get on board.

Mobeewave, a provider of in-person contactless payment acceptance software, is getting an investment from Samsung Venture Investment Corporation that pushes a recent Series B funding round led by NewAlpha, Mastercard and Forestay Capital to nearly $20 million.

Florida’s Tropicana Field has eliminated cash from all concessions, ticket sales and parking, requiring Tampa Bay’s baseball fans to pay with credit, debit or gift cards at terminals that are also equipped with NFC for mobile and contactless payments.

The news may seem overdue, but this isn't a story of two Goliaths battling it out. It's a tale of one Goliath beating multiple Davids — slowly, methodically, and one at a time.

Part of the issue is that in the U.S., contactless cards didn't pave the way for mobile as they did in other regions. Without widespread acceptance of contactless cards, merchants were put in the position of being asked to upgrade their terminals for mobile without any promise that the investment would pay off.

Starbucks has established itself as a model for mobile payments among coffee drinkers, but Barclays is partnering with a U.K. coffee chain to take it a step further by bringing the coffee cup itself into play.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. has committed to roll out contactless chip cards for all new and replacement payment cards, which will likely spark a mass movement, if the experience of other global markets is any guide.

In the U.S., most banks and retailers seemed to have given up on contactless cards with the 2011 demise of the much-publicized Chase Blink brand. But the payment format is making a strong comeback in 2018.

Despite the fervor over mobile wallets and banking, one day consumers may never need to open a dedicated bank or payment app.

Now that consumers have come to accept metal cards, issuers are looking to do more with the format.

As with many mobile apps and services, I think we underestimated the fragmentation issue. That includes consumers preferring different operating ecosystems, and also different versions of Android or iPhone hardware, according to Ankit Kumar, manager of digital payments and mobile financial services at Gemalto.

Contactless payments are a big success story in most countries around the world—including developing markets—but not in the U.S.