Tag: nfc technology

The marketplace is rocked by the shocking news that a major player has dropped out.

The CEO of VeriFone, Doug Bergeron, has stunned the direct-to-micromerchant mobile payments world with the announcement that it is stepping out of that marketplace following unprofitable results from its Sail service.

The point-of sale provider’s mcommerce news came as a surprise to the majority of the industry.

As VeriFone had dedicated a great deal of last year and much of this year on the promotion of the growth of mobile payments services, the decision that the company has now made to remove itself from that direct-to-micromerchant space has caused many heads to spin. The announcement was made during the most recent quarterly conference call.

The CEO released the mobile payments news that the company is stepping down.

During the call, Bergeron stated that Sail, its own mobile payments service, has been unprofitable. This program had been giving small businesses the ability to use smartphones and tablets to accept transactions through debit and credit cards. He said that “Customer acquisition costs, either through search engines or TV advertising, cannot and will never justify the razor thin margins produced by merchants with infrequent volumes and extremely high attrition.”

The NFC technology community has also been left blinking in surprise, as it had been looking toward that company to propel forward its adoption, particularly after the iPhone 5 was released without its capabilities.

Bergeron described the mobile payments program at VeriFone as a failure and is now causing many of the other players in the industry to take a second look at their own potential for profitability. This is particularly the case after the CEO questioned the ability of the environment to be profitable at all. The company has announced that all of its assets from that space will now be sold off.

He explained that he felt it is possible to see similar thoughts among the competition as their businesses models are shifted toward wallets services. It is his belief that the only mobile payments players who will be able to survive “this fundamentally challenging business model” will be those who are capable of offering micro merchants other services, as well.

Verizon Wireless facing accusations of baring access to Google Wallet

Verizon Wireless has been making a name for itself in the realm of mobile commerce through the Isis platform. The company has been getting attention in the mobile commerce space for more than its participation in the Isis venture, however. Rumors have been circulating concerning the company’s restrictions concerning Google Wallet. According to these rumors, Verizon Wireless has barred all customers from accessing Google’s own mobile commerce platform. The telecommunications giant, however, suggests that this is not the case.

Company files report to the FCC

Verizon Wireless has delivered a report to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, which regulations domestic and international communications via radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable. In its report, Verizon Wireless claims that it has not taken any steps to restrict access to Google Wallet. The allegations concernng the company’s restrictions are likely linked to a problem with Google Wallet itself, rather than any action that Verizon Wireless has made.

Problems may lie with Google Wallet itself

Earlier this year, Verizon began releasing NFC-enabled smart phones to the market. At the time these devices were released, Google Wallet was not ready to be made available on these platform. This quickly changed, however, as Google pushed for inclusion into the Verizon Wireless network, making the Wallet application compatible with the company’s latest  mobile devices. Problems began emerging as consumers found that they were unable to use Google Wallet, even though it was completely compatible with the device they purchased from Verizon Wireless.

Verizon suggests Google Wallet has yet to be approved for its security features

Verizon claims that the problem lies in the fact that Google has done little to gain approval for its mobile commerce application in terms of security. Verizon Wireless notes that Google Wallet’s security features require that it be approved by the company before it can be made widely available to customers. The company claims that Google is already well aware of this necessity, but that the technology giant has not yet sought approval for its mobile commerce platform.