Key Players in the Mobile E-Wallet War

While many people are focused on the tablet marketshare wars, we’re more interested in the mobile e-wallet battle that’s about to flare up in the U.S. In fact, we think the smoke will have cleared and the winner(s) will be evident by 2013.

Mobile e-wallets will let you pay for things, or pay other people from your mobile phone. You’ll be able to select what payment type you want to use (which bank account, credit or debit card, or stored value card) and make a secure, even anonymous transaction using your mobile phone.

Google, Microsoft, and Isis are betting on/waiting for NFC chips in our phones and on Point of Sale devices. But other players like PayPal and possibly Apple may be taking an approach that requires no additional hardware at the merchant: generate bar codes and/or matrix codes to convey the payment information at the point of sale. If successful, this barcode approach would enable these players to gain traction quickly and add NFC capabilities later. The e-wallet providers who wait for ubiquitous NFC chips may miss the e-wallet train as it leaves the station.