Payments Jungle (Apple, Android, Samsung & Microsoft)

Abstract – Today payment industry can be compared with either payment war, payment jungle or even just payment storm. This article is focused on high level discussion and showing what is happening in payment industry and contribution / future impact by 4 well known camps Apple, Android, Microsoft & Samsung. This article can help but only on high-level understanding. Readers who are interested to know some more details on each one of them are suggested to read them separately and get complete insight. Experts in any form of payments like mobile, Internet, paper or card should not get disappoint after reading this as said it not meant for detailed or deeper understanding. In case needs detailed information or deliberation on any part please feel free get in touch directly as to me Mobile Financial Services is #MyIndustry. Charmaine Oak a SME in the digital payment industry had very informative, excellent, detailed and dedicated to Android pay article at https://digitalmoney.shiftthought.co.uk/how-android-pay-changes-mobile-paymentsand-why-you-should-care/

Introduction – if we had any global ministry of innovation for regulation and control then for sure till date cash will be only the single king but since its not and mobile payments has proven it self as economic freedom. In the current payment race/war where every one is running to get their share of this hot cake (https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/rush-hour-mobile-payments-vinod-sharma) we are now getting new arrival Android Pay announced by Google at its I/O conference. Android pay would be available through set of APIs that will allow developers to add an Android Pay button to their app and banks to enable payments in their applications on Android devices with KitKat 4.4 and above.

Just imagine how powerful this central payment hub would be for consumers as the payment cake size continues to be increasing and upgrading with new ecosystem, applications and devices coming to market. Banks and Card companies are working restlessly in U.S.A to get merchant conversion for their acceptance religion from older magnetic stripe payment terminals to support NFC payments from mobile phones or smart cards and to EMV compliment cards but a complete transition will take years, pay attention to “S” at the end of word years in last statement. Waiting for some news or guide lines or for all this NFC revolution and usage from The MIFARE4Mobile? (Acts as a platform to guide the evolution of MIFARE4Mobile technology.) Industry Group consists of leading players in the Near Field Communication (NFC) ecosystem including many many well-known players 

Main Story - Last week I received an email asking and writing about window size of Mobile Payments & IoT based Mobile Payments; thus decided to give it a go and I am writing here what I know and got to know from industry experience as well as my reading & study so far but this time focus and scope here only on 4 major players with mobile payment segment in traditional way i.e Apple, Microsoft, Samsung and Android Pay. Apple pay started in late 2014 with its proprietary handset iPhone-6 and os IOS-8 that utilises an embedded secure element (eSE). Any one looking wants to get onto an iPhone for using Apple Pay, they have to do it Apple’s way oppose to the need where want to get on to Android OS based devices where range and market size on global level is between 75 to 80 percent and got range of options.

Apple Pay - The entrant of late year 2014 (New in those days was it manage to sell 10 million handsets sold in first 3 days of launch, oops how many they made ready for the launch phase?) launching Apple Pay (NFC Solution) from a technology prospective was neither a new offering nor a game changer. Without a doubt, this launch was to set a trend for NBFTC (Non Banking Financial & Technology companies) on how to enter into payments and the so-called banking domain and eat the share. Unlike most of the MNOs which keep on focusing and growing the mobile network in positive way to penetrate this or can say isolated areas, millions of people are now able to connect via a mobile phone. As a result, mobile money has become a viable alternative to traditional bank accounts. The mobile payment relationship between the major banks and Apple is, to put mildly, a delicate one.

Apple trying to enable NFC-based Mobile Payments to Cross the Chasm. Apple’s move has the potential to vastly increase mobile payment revenue, which would create a potentially highly lucrative market for banks. But the precise details of early negotiations have the potential to color the nature of those deals for years. As the smoke clears from round one, it appears that the banks chose to start by playing this game the Apple way.

Samsung Pay – Its too early to make any confirmed comment in absence of any clear picture on how different it would be as for its payment approaches as it uses the Android operating system in most of its phones, but always tends to add its own custom features, apps and interfaces to its Galaxy S smartphones and Note devices. It has fingerprint sensors and NFC in Galaxy smartphones portfolio for over three years. Samsung Pay, a replacement for Samsung Wallet, may be not be different or only cover page would be fancy & colourful. Google announced to release set of API for its OS payment module to the developers. Apple Pay, which launched last fall with the NFC-ready iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus with IOS- 8 smartphones, gets much more attention, especially in the U.S., and is the clear frontrunner so far. Apple Pay works with NFC and fingerprint readers in its latest smartphones as well.

At MWC, Samsung clarified & confirmed the support of both NFC and a secure magnetic technology on the new Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge, which came after acquisition of LoopPay. The magnetic technology gives users the ability to make in-store payments at stores with conventional payment terminals that work with magnetic stripe cards. Samsung recent request & notification to its users about discontinuation of its its older Samsung Wallet service effective June 30 except in Korea. As per internet news and rumours Samsung Pay will be available in the U.S. and Korea this summer, but I cant confirm nor take any responsibility of truth's of this news.

Android Pay – I was reading on some blog last week about Google’s set up of vending machine in the press area at I/O for the Android Pay demo was brilliant idea, which also had couple of Nexus devices that were already preloaded with the software. To buy a Coke, all one had to do was tap a Nexus 6 to the terminal, and with some combination and configuration of American Express card along with a MyCoke Rewards loyalty card that appears on the screen. Some said statement “Phone is smart enough to know that you are using Android Pay at a vending machine”. Android Pay most likely (As nothing is clear on date) will require banks to partner with the card schemes. As Financial Technology and Mobile technologies seem to go hand-in-hand, we need to figure how people use this technology to manage their money. Plus, CNN has forecasted that this group of 18 to 35 year olds (this age bracket varies depending on who you ask) will have more buying power than any other generation, making this an appealing market for financial professionals to pay attention to give strategic angle to their business plan and roadmaps. Card credentials will be hosted in an HCE/cloud server and tokenisation will be rolled into the offering from the scheme.

How this would compare with Samsung Pay or Apple pay is not clear neither any forcast by any expert on how this will be taken by market or will it dominate the market for mobile payments?. Android Pay solution appears to be a scheme-hosted HCE service with android branding. Saying anything this junction would be like playing Indian traditional game which is normally played by newly wed couple which is to find small ring in huge bowl full of other like material and thick black liquid. Google is process to deliver a hasty response to Apple Pay in the US. The difference will be probably a service more similar to Apple Pay. Right now with Google wallet your transaction goes through Google, it shows in your bank/statement as Google (kind of like how PayPal works). With Apple Pay its just as if you were using the card, this way you get things like cash back rewards points at specific retailers you wouldn't get with Wallet.

Android Pay leaves us with abundantly bunch of questions remain on table yes unanswered questions on how exactly Android Pay will work for both developers and users, but it seems clear that Google is hoping to streamline the whole process of mobile payments both online and offline. Like said before here a single-tap transactions, which was, demonstrated in conference within Android apps, as well as fingerprint-authenticated purchases in stores for users carrying the right hardware. Android Pay will support NFC and BioMetric and most-likely Google and Samsung will not travel on same train on their journey as their speed & milestone likely not to marry.

Microsoft Payments or may be known as MS Pay may join Apple, Android, Samsung in pay war / jungle. Windows 10 for phones supports Host Card Emulation, licensing makes it official. Microsoft is looking for licensing to be a money transmitter suggesting that the company is taking next steps to develop its own mobile payments platform akin to Android Pay, Apple Pay and Samsung Pay. Some rumours are break through has been achieved in Idaho states by getting license.

Microsoft announced that its hand set, would be supporting HCE. HCE a simple method of transmitting credit card information without relying on a Secure Element embedded in a SIM. Newer Android phones use HCE to transmit NFC signals to terminals, and the benefits of the scheme mean that third-party developers can build NFC functions into their apps. The elimination of the Secure Element requirement makes the payment platform SIM independent, and hence HCE threatens & upset carriers.

 Hash Tagas : #payments , #mobilepayments , #mobilemoney , #money , #mobile

Conclusions: What are the implications of this war? Is it going to change the world (unlikely), be a significant “win”, be a nice hack, or simply serve as a road sign indicating that this path is “UNKNOWN”. Which system is useful and needed for the business considering the market you operate and synchronised with your strategies and goals. While mobile payment announcements from various smartphone makers are growing in frequency, still too much unknown & doubtful thoughts that such services will drive much interest in buying the smartphones that support it.

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