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We have a surplus of great soltions looking for problems to solve.

Not only is simplicity the key, but also critial mass.

Apple may have just managed to tip the balance for NFC (in the US at least, but time will tell) but for many other such applications mass adoption by consumers will significantly lag behind the initial technical fanfare, which will also test the nerves of such FS providers.

Apple deserve congratulations for making a success of NFC Payments.

The NFC standard has been around for a good while, but most attempts at mass roll out have been held back by finding a workable solution to the secure element question, as you describe, and also the conflicting demands from the various players all looking for their slice of the pie.

This does not address the question of what problem NFC is trying to solve, but it will help make mobile payments mainstream and open the doors for more innovative solutions.

"We know this technology works — when Britain switched to a chip-and-pin system, they cut fraud in stores by 70%," says the president.

The President did not mention that Britain switched over 10 years ago, that the US will be the last country in the world to adopt the global standard, and that global fraud is now US centric.

This should have been a "No Brainer", but I guess the US is a different market.

Apple deserve congratulations for making a success of NFC Payments.

The NFC standard has been around for a good while, but most attempts at mass roll out have been held back by finding a workable solution to the secure element question and conflicting demands from the various players all looking for their slice of the pie.

This does not address the question of what problem NFC is trying to solve, but it will help make mobile payments mainstream and open the doors for more innovative solutions.

If these tokens have a BIN and are in the required format to allow for routing over the existing rails, how is a hacker meant to tell the differnce.

Q: When is a card number not a card number?
A:  When it is a token!

Excellent article Alex,

I too am a longstanding First Direct customer. I have recently been frustrated by their slow pace of innovation and clumsy phone based security, but the excellent customer service I receieve when I do speak to them easily outweigh such issues.

You are right to say it is very difficult to put a value on such a service, as my loyalty to the bank is based on the hope that such intangibles are core values of the business. If that ever changes then customers will soon realise and look for better options.

Martin, I persevered and managed to get my Quick Tap set up, but that was just the start of the frustration.

Then came the lottery of actually trying to pay. I have made a couple of successful payments, but sadly out of many failed attempts.

Even in the same shop at the same POS on subsequent days - the first worked, the second did not.

Thankfully I can now get my prepaid funds back without any further desparate and hopeless attempts. 

I hope this experience does not dent my enthusiasm to be an "early adopter" !

Now where did I put my contactless wristband?

Perfect for the beach bar :-)

Just need to stick to small rounds and avoid the champagne to keep under the €25 limit :-(

That ATM does not look like a 'Space Invader' machine to me.

Is it a coincidence that just as the CEO leaves to start a purely digital bank, First Direct with a great reputation and brand recogniton as a telephone and on-line bank decide make a high street debut?