Mobile payments: and the winner is...

Hailo.

Whilst hundreds of companies in the payments space are racing to solve the nonexistent problems (or, at the very least, problems which neither the consumer nor the merchant care much about), Hailo offered a great solution without even inventing anything. In fact, payment was a pleasant side-effect of their core product.

Hail a cab using Hailo app, get to your destination and simply walk away, with all your shopping, luggage or kids. No fumbling with loose change, no fishing cards from your wallet. Nice, simple, elegant and mega convenient!

They used bog-standard "card on file" approach and combined it with "Pay with Square" model. And it works like a charm.

That's what mobile payments should be about: uber-UX. Getting my phone out, unlocking it, launching an app, and presenting a barcode or waiving the phone near the reader does not make consumers go "Wow!". Is it wave, or tap, or "place and hold" - as a consumer I am already confused. When I pay with my card, I don't need to think about it: card in, PIN, done. Compare, for example, to Kuapay.

It's hard to outdo Visa and MasterCard in the "one size fits all" game. They've done a brilliant job. However, there are tons of niches where an innovative approach would make sense. Hailo is just one example.