News Roundup!

A lot of things have happened recently in the world of mobile/financial services, etc. But I have questions!! Some of the articles are seemingly contradictory, and still others leave me with more questions than answers.Here's some of the news that I've been browsing over these past few days:

• An article released recently (as in, this morning) by the Atlanta Fed Blog also talks about security (me and the Fed- we're on the same wavelength) but their argument is that mobile payments are probably more secure than regular bank cards. The post, written by Cindy Merrit (the assistant director of the Fed's Retail Risk) concludes that "The ability to add passwords and GPS location functionality to the handset represent additional security controls to accessing payment instruments in the future mobile wallet".
• But at the same time,  Reuters featured an article today asking "How Safe Is Your Mobile Wallet?", and although it did state that "consumers shouldn't be any more nervous than they would be using their computers for banking", they did go on to talk about malware (20 million new pieces of malware!) and cyber criminals. I feel like I'm getting mixed messages
• But wait, in the same report from the Atlanta Fed (towards the end), she also states that because the US uses normal mag-stripe cards (vs. Chip/PIN cards in the UK) our security is becoming increasingly obsolete. D'oh.

And what about those crazy alternative cats?

• Google announced recently that it's put in a "stalking horse" bid on Nortel's patents. Nortel, which filed for bankruptcy in 2009 has sold itself off in pieces to recoup some money to pay off its remaining creditors. Its patents reportedly revolve around wireless services, data networking and LTE. Overall this seems like a logical move for Google as they expand in their wireless space, but one can't help but wonder what's in the mysterious goody bag of patents that's possibly worth $900M
• Speaking of Google, remember when I previously wrote about the cannibalization and hybridization? Well, a leaked version of the forthcoming Android Music update implies that Google is also looking to get into the cloud storage service. Yup, the same one Apple announced that it would do, that Amazon beat them to. I feel like Apple is just getting salt in the wound...
• But they shouldn't feel too bad, they just got some support from Bank Companion ("a leading provider of mobile banking software"). Bank Companion announced it would be integrating with the iPad2 for its industry leading mobile banking software platform. All in all, I have to say that it seems like quite a gamble for Bank Companion to put all their stakes on Apple...but perhaps they'll be announcing additional platforms shortly.
• As a tangent, I have to say that I'm wondering about the power of tablets- the article above claims that iPad sales reached 15M units in 2010 with over 7.3 units sold in its last three months of 2010. Users typically are the same as the iPad norm (30-54 yrs old) and that the tablets are mainly used for finance. Question: Are they including units sold to enterprise? Why an age range of 30-54 years old? You might as well say 20-70, and also, why the affinity for finance? Overall, is tablet a channel worth investing in? My gut feeling says no (at least if your target demographic is the "average consumer") just because iPads have a high cost of entry. Don't know if the masses can afford its minimum $500 price tag...
• Amazon is also still in the game, by the way, recently announcing that they are interested in NFC-based marketing services (not just payment services!). For example, a consumer who can't find the product they're looking for in the store could tap and have the item shipped to them through the Amazon. Although some argue that Amazon is actually pretty late to the party (Hello Google Shopper?) the point is that this is a way for Amazon to build on its strengths (e-commerce) and simultaneously move into a new space. So, Amazon is definitely trying to move into the physical goods space ASAP. Watch out Google/Apple- Amazon' gunning for ya!

And what about our traditional players?

• They're hip! They're "with it"! Visa, for example, just confirmed that they will be partnering with Samsung for the London 2012 Olympics. Visa says that it'll be working in conjunction with banks and retailers to bring NFC payments to the games. Currently, the estimate is that over 60K merchants will participate in London alone
• Sprint recently announced that they are going to provide a direct-to-bill solution by the end of 2011. They claim that they are already working with payment providers in an open platform solution. This seems to be a direct challenge toward the ISIS model and seems to piggy back on their original mobile wallet offering that they unveiled in late October (2010). In a surprising turn, initial speculation claims that instead of taking a transaction fee, Sprint might make their money from in-process advertisements instead

And the world keeps spinning.... Pretty interesting stuff- now that NFC has begun to pick up steam a bit, it seems like all holds are off and its essentially a free for all. If I was going to draw the innovation that's happening right now, it's obviously going up a steep hockey-stick type curve, but the question is, what event/product/player is going to fundamentally change the momentum? What crazy invention, off-the-wall idea, outside force is going to make the entire industry step back and say, "Hold on. Whoa. Let's slow it down a bit."? I would argue that right now, my bet is on regulation, but let's wait and see.