Mobile Wallets and More Ways to Use Them

There is a rush by many to findthe next standard in the Mobile Wallet boom.  This Holiday Season was a window to what wewill see in the coming year as retailers try to test the technology on the “earlyadopters” of the MW technology.  Anarticle in Time Magazine discussed the recent transition of these companies asthey try to convert billions of dollars’ worth of transactions to cashless inthe coming year.

Here are just a few ways the Mobile Wallet isdeveloping.  Salvation Army Santas usedmobile phones to take donations this Christmas season.  Google has just launched Google Wallet inpartnership with Citibank, Mastercard and Sprint’s nexus S 4G phone.  PayPal will announce 20 partnerships this yeardesigned to allow you to order ahead, self-check out in stores and simply useyour phone number and pin to pay for purchases.  Isis, a Verizon AT&T and T-Mobile walletwith Visa, AmEx, Discover and Mastercard partnerships launches this year inSalt Lake City and Austin.  Visa’s ownvirtual wallet, V.Me, is also around the corner.  And don’t forget Apple, whose stores arealready using the iPhone to checkout customers.

There are a number of different deployment methods from NFC(near filed communications) to text messaging. Either way, there won’t be a shortage of routes that will be explored.  Estimates are that 12.1 billion dollars willtransfer through MW technology in the coming year.  When the dust settles who will set thestandard?  Only time will tell…staytuned.