It's been a while since I blogged here at Finextra. Several of my regular followers were curious as to why I am staying below the radar.

Firstly, we are nearing the launch of MultiPass pilot with a major transport operator in London, and 24 hours in a day is simply not enough. (Cannot say more here due to Finextra rules.)

We are also in the process of setting up camp at Level39 at Canary Wharf to extend the disruptive force of MultiPass to the payments industry too, where - to quote Carroll - "we must run as fast as we can, just to stay in place"... (Cannot say more here due to Finextra rules.)

However, the main reason for my silence was, perhaps, lack of any notable or interesting events in the industry. Since the introduction of Apple Pay, many (wrongly!) assumed that the game was over. Some, like Samsung, entered the knee-jerk reaction phase chasing Apple's shadow instead of focusing on the use cases not (yet) covered by Apple. The usual noise (Bitcoin, HCE, some "mobile payments" launch here and there) remains, but it's just that - boring "white noise", with no flare, no true innovation, no "insanely great" user experience.

Surely, I do have some cool ideas in that respect, but it seems that I have been - unwittingly (or deliberately...) - educating more parties than needed. Hence, I now have to be more selective in what I say here.

I will, though, write about what I think the current and future trends are, as well as about the windows of opportunities that are still open. Offering my view on why some big banks are heading in the wrong direction (no surprises there), why MNOs lost the battle they should have never fought (in that way, at least...) and why the market still doesn't get that Apple Pay is not in the same category as iTunes (in terms of dominance).

Stay tuned :)