René Bastien’s take on the card industry and life in general. All material © 2009 by René Bastien
This is now out in the public domain. A Canadian pilot will start in 2007, peaking in March 2008. See the article on Card Technology, at http://www.cardtechnology.com/article.html?id=20070529PCKY4NLS.
It will be interesting to see how the technology is accepted by cardholders and merchants, and if there are any technology issues. More to follow as soon as information becomes public!
René
The CTST 2007 conference (http://www.ctst.com/CTST07 ) was as usual, a chance to reconnect with many industry leaders as well as to sit in and listen to some of the speakers. I was lucky to present on the first morning (copy of my presentation under CTST 2007, to the right), which left ample time to learn more on the big buzz of the conference: contactless technology.
In all of my years in the card industry, and including my years on JTC1-SC17, I was never a big fan of contactless cards. I was not convinced that a viable business case could be built to justify implementing them in payment applications. Sure, I could easily identify niche applications that made sense and the cards were being produced in a variety of form factors that extended their usefulness. However I felt, as many did, that it was a technology looking for its raison d’être.
Well who says you cannot teach an old dog new tricks? Sure enough, I am slowly changing my mind.
Out of curiosity, I recently applied for and received a MasterCard Paypass card. You can go to http://www.priceless.com/cards/paypass/index.html?GP=ILC-REDpaypass to see some Paypass ads. I was looking for a petroleum card that would reduce the cost of gasoline (it does) and wanted to experiment with a contactless card. Now, I go the extra mile just for the fun of using Paypass! I just have to place my wallet close to the reader and bingo – transaction completed! I will really appreciate it this winter (remember that Canadian winters can be really cold, -20C at times). Fumbling with your credit card as you attempt to take it out of your wallet and insert it in the gas pump reader, fingers frozen, keys in hand, is an experience I can avoid with contactless technology. It would be even better if the card was available in a different form factor, a key fob for example.
So far, as a consumer, I am truly impressed, by the ease of use of Paypass; it is really convenient. I can understand why the technology has created such a buzz in the
I actually worked for a client on a concept of a transit card combined with a traditional EMV card, which would have required a combined interface (contact for EMV, contactless for transit). I still believe the future resides in multiple form factors, adapted to varied delivery channels, standard POS, ATM, the web, active and passive RFID, NFC, and others.
This leads us to an interesting conclusion: disintermediation of the distribution channels will happen in the medium term because of the expansion of payment channels. Those payment channels will no longer be controlled by banks or large processors alone. EMV will not be the sole future of Smart Cards, as new form factors or tokens, and new transaction schemes expand outside of banking. The reluctance of the
I would love your comments on these topics. Until then, have a nice day!
René
Greetings to all!
I decided to start this blog to discuss two topics that are the bread and butter of my professional consulting experience:
I think it is worthwhile to have a space where people from around the world can share their views on these issues. My role will be to moderate the exchanges, of course, while provoking discussions by posting topics as frequently as possible.
I mean this blog to be as open as feasible. Just as long as people are respectful of each others’ opinion… I will also use the space to talk about topics that are dear to me.
I welcome your comments! Let’s have fun!
Best regards
René