Where the puck is going to be

Everyone wants to be part of the mobile payments revolution. By now most players realized that there is no money in payments. The next stampede direction - Big Data.

Who wouldn't want to fight over that dessert. Yet, as Harry Ellis (Die Hard) put it: "It's not what I want, it's what I can give you". (He became extinct when he failed to deliver the value.)

"67 percent of banks said they would like to capture and be the full custodian of their customers' value (money, coupons, air miles, etc.)" Come again?!

That's "want", not "give". What's in it for me, as a consumer or a merchant?

One needs to bring more brain than braun to the table, to outsmart the fat boys. No player can do it alone - you need a "critical mass" partner to win that game. The choices? The usual suspects - telcos, merchants, acquirers, infrastructure providers, OEMs, etc.

My bet? Transit companies (and, perhaps, a telco who "gets it").

Why transit? "Bit Data" is a big hype, per se. Unless done in the right context - such as "anticipatory advertising" (aka "destination-based marketing"). Wayne Gretzky said it best: a great player is playing where the puck is going to be...