The environment is currently too scattered and lacking a standard for many consumers.
The mobile payments world has been rapidly filling with various players that are hoping to become the leaders in what could possibly be an exceptionally lucrative venture.
Many people believe that it won’t be long before smartphones replace plastic credit cards.
Unfortunately, the struggle that is currently being faced in the progress of mobile payments is compatibility. Though many smartphone users are becoming interested in the method of making purchases as a number of major retailers have launched pilot programs or have announced that they intend to integrate the technology into their payment options, some shoppers are finding themselves turned away.
Many of the mobile payments wallets are available only to certain OSs and have other notable limitations.
Though the mobile payments services, wallets, and systems are attempting to get started, many of them are compatible only with certain operating systems, devices, credit cards, or technologies (such as NFC, which has yet to become available in a large percentage of the devices being used by today’s consumers). This is causing many consumers who would be willing to give the technique a try to find themselves ill equipped to use it.
Moreover, every company and program seems to have its own techniques for allowing the mobile payments to be processed. While one business may require consumers to scan QR codes, another needs a wave of an NFC enabled device over a reader. With this lack of consistency, consumers are finding themselves confused, and a service that is meant to help to provide ease, convenience, and speed is becoming far less appealing than the simple to use, well established plastic credit cards.
The overall messy initial implementation of the concept of mobile payments may, in fact, cause more harm than good to that technology, as the small percentage of consumers who are willing to look beyond their security concerns in order to give the technique a chance are finding themselves confused, frustrated, or simply unable to complete the transaction.
Though it is unlikely that this lack of compatibility and uniformity will stop mobile payments from happening, it does help to explain the slow start, and why it likely won’t take off with any rapidity quite yet.
