My predictions for 2013

Some of my regular followers here at Finextra were curious as to why I have not been blogging lately.

I normally write about practical and relevant issues, and it's getting harder and harder for me to do that without stepping on some NDA here or there. Also, several companies are now shifting their focus to our main playing field, and I don't want to educate potential competition (yet).

However, some thing I can and would like to share with Finextra readers, based on the numerous meetings and discussions with the key industry players I have had during the past few months. Ellipses below lead to the big picture, for those who know what to look for and how to read between the lines.

With all the hype (founded and not) that surrounds NFC, another technology has been mostly overlooked - Bluetooth Low Energy... Apple is very keen on it, for many (interesting) reasons. It allows to deliver some innovative applications in a way that is not possible or feasible with NFC. And not just in a retail environment...

Mobile does not have to mean a "mobile phone" - it's about "being in the move". Hence, mobile payments - as any payment, in fact - are about secure ID. Apple recently spent almost half a billion dollars on buying fingerprint companies. A major UK bank will soon introduce consumer biometrics solution in its branches. It's not hard to see where things are going...

Mobile operators, when it comes to mobile payments, are going pretty much downhill... Miracles do happen, but not likely in this case. It's only the matter of time before SIMs become embedded. Once secure element moves inside the phone, cards could follow the trend too.

Once you can use your card without its physical possession, we have "cardholder (not card) present" situation. That means "wallet" and "payment" will have a different meaning...

Add transit to the above equation - more and more countries are switching to smart ticketing. That's billions of trips every day - think of captivated audience, think of "anticipatory advertising" (we call it "destination-based marketing")...

I am cheating with this one (those who know what we do will understand what I mean by that) - iPhone will have NFC in 2013...

This post turned out be "My predictions for 2013" (I had a different title in mind when I put pen to paper). Perhaps arriving a bit too early this year, but it's Christmas which cannot do that (could someone explain that to the advertisers, please).

Back below the radar for now.