Time is the new currency

Mobile has become as disruptive and revolutionary as credit cards once were, forever changing the way we think about how we bank and manage our money, how we pay for our travel and how we shop or are entertained.  

Mobile technology is creating faster and more seamless interactions with our favourite retailers as well as the daily transactions we take for granted such as transportation and buying our morning coffee.

When you look at why, the answer is simple – it gives people back their time.

In 2015, time is the new currency.  Any company that can leverage technology to make everyday activities like bill-paying or even the occasional activities like holiday booking faster and easier will change – will disrupt – the status quo.  And, if it can be done safely and securely, people will have the confidence to adopt it at speed.

This week, Visa Europe announced that it will offer its debit, credit and reloadable prepaid cardholders access to Apple Pay in the UK.  The new Apple Pay will be available starting in July and can be used with the hundreds of thousands of contactless point of sale terminals as are used contactlessly millions of times every day throughout the UK.

This is the most recent in a series of headline announcements by major players in this arena.  After the September launch of Apple Pay in the US, this year’s Mobile World Congress commenced with Samsung announcing the launch of Samsung Pay followed more recently by Google’s intention to launch Android Pay in the US this July.

On the other side of the equation is the consumer appetite for these products.  We recently unveiled the results of a consumer study we conducted looking into the appetite for using mobile devices as a form of payment.  We found that people across Europe are enthusiastic about the idea of using their smartphones and other devices to shop, send money to friends and interact with their bank.  In fact, the study projects that the number of people using their mobile device to make a payment on a daily basis will more than double over the next five years.

This study has captured an important moment in time as we are at an inflection point in how we buy things.

For more on the future of mobile, check out the video: