Another article highlights the concerns that there will be more “storm” before the “calm” as EMV technology rolls out in the U.S. market. This article emphasizes the time it takes for a card-based contact transaction and the inconsistent consumer experience that will occur at the point of sale;
There are at least a few reasons that consumers might get confused or give up using the smart card, experts said. First, it takes longer by at least a couple of seconds to make a payment with a smart card rather than a magnetic stripe card. Also, the payment confirmation will vary by the type of payment terminal or a store’s required payment procedure, which could cause confusion.
The article further suggests that the confusion and unpredictability of using a card will be the event that (finally) drives mobile payments and NFC which is faster and interacts with the point of sale terminal the same way every time. The only issue there is acceptance. It’s hard to buy a terminal that isn’t NFC capable, but there is a big step between installing an NFC capable terminal and actually enabling the capability.
Overview by Sarah Grotta, Director, Debit Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group
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