By: Rusty Nix
Recently I made a statement (rather foolishly within earshot of a millennial) that tech companies aren’t innovating anymore, and it sparked an hour-long debate over Apple Pay. Here is the gist of the conversation.
The Millennial View
I see Apple Pay as a game changer, dude; I use my phone for everything. I talk to people on it, I set up dates with it, I shop for things on it; basically I do everything on it. Within 10-20 years we will no longer carry a “regular” wallet because everything will be on a phone. Right now I am able to have my insurance verification on my phone, and I no longer have to carry that with me in my car. I think soon we will have our driver’s licenses on our phone, and they will be verified through a fingerprint reader or a PIN number. Iowa announced late last year that they would soon be launching a smart license that will be accessible on phones. So if I can have my driver’s license and my insurance verification on my phone why not just have all of my credit cards as well? That will do away with my regular wallet making it one less thing I need to carry, although I might carry a money clip for when I’m in a real pinch.
My View The GenXer
Although I can see in some instances that there is a benefit to being able to pay with my phone, there is really nothing that Apple Pay or Google Wallet offers me that I don’t already have. I can pay practically everywhere with my credit card, including outside of the US; and what if I’m at a baseball game and want a beer? Am I going to pass my phone down the aisle? Really? Nope! I will still use cash. This, along with a myriad of other reasons, makes me cynical about the mass adoption of these technologies and any sort of wallet “replacement.” The way I see it mobile wallets have basically just taken my credit cards out of my left pocket and moved them into my right pocket, not much more than that.
In short, the point I was trying to make in my previous statement about technology companies no longer innovating is that these so called “mobile wallets” don’t go far enough. Innovation, at its core, is the solution to an existing problem. Mobile wallets don’t necessarily solve a problem, and certainly not one that demands a solution. I’ve never stared down a credit card terminal and thought to myself, “not this part again, it is so hard.” That’s not the problem. The actual problem is the line I have to wait in to get to the three seconds worth of time it takes me to pay.
True innovation looks more like this: We have some sort of device that is linked to several payment accounts, including even a cash payment option. This device also has some sort of biometric authentication linked its owner. So for example, any time I go to a store, I scan the store’s ID code and it downloads that particular store’s UPC codes onto my device. I walk around leisurely shopping and scanning UPC codes into my device as I go. When I am finished I select checkout on my device, select my payment method, go to the counter to retrieve my receipt, and walk out the door without waiting in line. I can even pay with cash if I wish, but the scanning of the items is already complete, so now I only go to the counter to pay. Now back to my beer, I scan the stadium ID, find my seat and sit down. I pull up my device, order a beer, and pay for it. I soon see the beer guy standing at the end of my row with my beer. Now THAT! is innovation, and this sort of innovation is what will lead to the option of a future cashless society. In this scenario, the transaction is likely directly between the vendor and the customer so Apple Pay and Google Wallet could be circumvented. Offering me a new way to pay is just that, another option that really provides no innovation. But I digress; after all, I am old and bitter.