Author: Julie Campbell

Industry experts in the retail sphere are predicting that the technology will start heating up next year.

With the close of 2015, there have been a number of predictions as to what will be taking off in 2016 and which trends will continue on their way, and many experts have been saying that they see mobile payments as something that will make an important splash before another year comes to a close.

The prediction is that mobile wallets will take off not only in retail stores but also other locations like restaurants.

Although there have been experts who have been predicting that mobile payments would be taking off for several years, the forecasts for 2016 are larger than ever before. With the introduction of chip credit cards, many people are saying that Samsung Pay, Android Pay and Apple Pay are going to be seen as more convenient and will start to become a normal form of transaction at retail counters and in restaurants. This will be an important shift as consumers have been quite resistant to stepping away from their plastic cards. According to CEB analyst, Andy Schmidt, 2016 could be the year in which that begins to change in a meaningful way.

The migration to chip cards could be just the opportunity that mobile payments need to make themselves known.

Banks, credit card issuers and retailers have all been changing their plastic card technology to include chips and many technology experts believe this slowdown at the checkout counter will have consumers looking to other types of transaction to speed up the process. While chip cards are considered to be safer than the magnetic stripes, it takes several seconds longer for each transaction to be completed. With the combination of the change in habits and the slower process, it could be what consumers need to look to the various smartphone-based options to speed things up again.

For this reason, it is expected that many companies are all going to do their part to stand out in the mobile wallet marketplace. There are already a large number of options, including major players such as Samsung, Apple, Google and even a recent entry by Walmart. Target has also announced that it’s working on its own option, while keeping its position as an important member of the anticipated MCX mobile payments app, as well. The belief seems to be that retailers – individually and as parts of consortiums – will be offering and receiving smartphone based transactions in the largest numbers yet throughout 2016.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is looking at a new wave of wearables that can monitor serious illnesses.

While fitness trackers such as the popular Fitbit and Jawbone gadgets, there is a new form of wearable technology making its way into the marketplace and in this case, it will be necessary for FDA approval to be issued in order to be able to sell them in the United States.

That said, the FDA is looking forward to the opportunity to find certain wearables that work for medical purposes.

The first waves of these wearable technology devices are going to be heading to market soon, after extensive time in the lab in which they have been developed and extensively tested in order to meet the requirements of the FDA. These gadgets have been created in order to detect, monitor and track serious diseases in their wearers. This could help to enhance and broaden access to high quality health care and could create a new industry worth tens of billions of dollars.

This new wearable technology business opportunity could be very helpful for patients with diabetes, epilepsy and other illnesses.

The FDA is already getting itself ready to handle the anticipated influx of mobile health gadgets that are hoping to be released pending its approval. According to the associate director for digital health with the agency, Bakul Patel, the FDA is already in the process of reviewing three new applications for senior health scientist positions that will have a focus on that specific category.

Despite the fact that the FDA has been called a barrier to innovation by certain entrepreneurs in the tech industry, the agency is hoping to alter that reputation and to become an important partner in the effort to ensure that devices can be developed that will be genuinely helpful in improving the health and quality of life of medical patients. It is also keen to encourage health insurance companies to start covering devices that receive official approval.

After all, patients, doctors, insurance companies and tech developers, alike, want to know that there is actual clinical benefit to a wearable technology device before it is released to market along with a slew of promises.