The “Pays” namely Apple Pay, Android Pay, Samsung Pay, and others are slowly expanding at the expense of more traditional payment means. More important, the “Pays” that started with finding their own small place in the payment value chain are regularly making inroads in the payment ecosystem showing they intend to radically transform it, in the mid-term. A year ago, Apple launched its Apple Card, a credit card initially positioned as a companion card for Apple Pay application. We just witnessed a series of announcements that show once again that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery: Huawei launches the Huawei Card in China while Google is said to be working on a Google Card in the US.
The eSIM (Embedded SIM or eUICC) is finally gaining market adoption after years of hesitation and feet dragging from various players in the telecom value chain. The detachable SIM has been in existence for over thirty years, it has been the lead driver for the secure transactions industry for decades, in terms of turnover, margin, production volumes and innovation level. Theoreticians of innovation lifecycles may question where the SIM stands nowadays: Growth? Maturity? Or on the brink of decline? A study commissioned by G+D Mobile Security titled "eSIM at an Inflection Point: Adoption poised to accelerate" has just been published by IDC. The research builds upon forecasts anticipating the
Those of us interested in mobile payments may remember that one of the oldest and most successful technologies for mobile payments is the one that requires the least features from mobile phones: mobile money. The technology, now available on smartphones, has been working on feature phones for long, as mobile money can use a simple SMS exchange to secure a financial transaction. In our current pandemic times, mobile money appears as a strong and reliable foundation allowing to operate payments in a totally safe manner. Mobile operators and governments are taking initiatives to support the use of mobile money and reduce the circulation of physical currency. For instance, in Kenya, Safaricom is
While the COVID-19 epidemic is affecting our lives, our health, and economies worldwide, opponents to technologies and activists are jumping on the current uncertainty to try and get public attention. However, besides these knee-jerk reactions, the current difficulties in decision making and the upcoming global recession undoubtedly affect 5G deployment. As social media posts circulated showing a link between 5G deployment and the ongoing pandemic, either saying simply that 5G causes the COVID-19 infection or that using higher frequencies weakens the immune system making people more susceptible to infection, some activists in the UK set fire to at least 20 mobile network antennas and base st
