

The Future of Mobile Payments - charlesbonello
http://www.charlesvbonello.com/post/35057571693/the-future-of-mobile-payments

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doublerebel
Having worked in several retail, wholesale, and restaurant positions with a
variety of POS, I think this is a very interesting space ripe for disruption
from multiple angles. Marketing seems to be the differentiating factor between
the major players at this time, as the article states.

What I think the article misses to point out, is the great variations in
actual usability of the systems. POS analytics and systems with robust central
backups are not new. Having so many UX designers now able to participate, and
being able to rapidly iterate versions with fixes users actually need, is very
new. Without saying too much, I am very excited to be moving these
technologies forward at this particular time.

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charlesbonello
Thanks for the feedback. I tend to agree with you about the fact that the
analytics and backups offered are not new, but the accessibility to designers
is, and I'm glad that you pointed it out more explicitly than I have --
especially given your experience.

I also think that in some ways, the 'usability' of each technology is the big
hurdle that must first be cleared before "marketing" becomes the key
differentiator. I approached this with the thought that among the existing (or
discussed) technologies, any improvement in the technology or functionality
is, at best, incremental. That, along with some other factors, is why I
suggested that marketing would represent the key differentiator. Glad to hear
other thoughts on that, too.

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doublerebel
Traditionally this has been the case, and largely because POS required such a
large upfront investment that merchants needed to be sure (or be 'sure' thanks
to a product already having been established in the market) of what the
details of the implementation are. When changing POS is as easy as
uninstalling one app and installing another... UI will be a much greater
factor. I expect many players to attempt to tie-in users through one method or
another as a crutch for lacking quality UX.

