If you want a prognostication on the winner and losers of the mobile wallet race, give this ZD Net blog post by Larry Dignan a read. He posits that the card brand and incumbent financial institutions have the inside track and that outsiders, like Google, have the furthest to run. A recent survey by Ogilvy & Mather suggested, from a trust point of view, that the card brands, including PayPal, do have the lead with the tech players and mobile operators in the middle and Facebook trailing in last place.
The article contains the gist of an interview with Visa Mobile head, Bill Gadja.
What side will win? My bet is on the established players. They have the leverage, consumer familiarity and trust already. More importantly, there are billing relationships. It’s an interesting dance between these sides. As CNET News’ Maggie Reardon noted, Visa and Google compete, but don’t really acknowledge that they are rivals.
Do you agree with the conclusions?