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Digital Wallets Have Yet To Catch On, JPMorgan Executive Says (reuters.com)
Despite major tech companies working aggressively on making digital wallet solutions available everywhere, these digital payment apps in our smartphones are yet to gain traction, according to Chief Executive of Consumer Banking JP Morgan Chase & Co. From a Reuters report: Apple Pay, Android Pay, and Samsung Pay are being used for less than 1 percent of payments at retailers, Gordon Smith said, citing industry data at an investor conference. Ultimately, the convenience of paying with phones will bring a surge of use from consumers, but it is impossible to know when that inflexion point will be reached, said Smith.
The end user wants a single system that will work at most of the places they buy things at, regardless of whether they switch back and forth from iPhone to Android, and regardless of which bank and credit card they have.
Until the various industry players swallow their greed and agree to get together in a strong standards definition and implementation process and revenue sharing process that gives users this kind of universality, the momentum will continue to stall.
Where are we going and why are we in a handbasket?
First, I don't trust the security of the phone. There is nothing on my phone that I would care about if a hacker got it. No logins, no passwords, no addresses. Just a couple apps and several phone numbers.
Second, I don't see why I should give big companies yet another chance to mine my data. Especially something as sensitive as my spending habits. I still use cash a lot for this very reason, every year my credit card company sends me a statement showing me exactly how closely they track my spending.