Every bank is somewhere on the pace of conversion to chip /smart cards, even if they are just thinking about it.  Well, we had better be including the conversion to contactless in that plan as phase 2, and using a cell phone as phase 3;  according to ABI Research and others I have seen lately.

Contactless Payment To Shift from Cards to Cell Phones, Says ABI Research | Tekrati Research News

“Contactless commerce is on a steep growth curve, but cards are only an intermediate step,” says Erik Michielsen, director of ABI Research’s RFID and M2M practice. “By 2010, more than 50% of cellular handsets–some 500 million units–will incorporate NFC capabilities that will be used not only for payments at points of sale and remotely, but also to access information from ‘smart objects.’

Imagine, for example, seeing a poster advertising a concert you want to attend. Hold your phone near the poster, and it connects you to a website where you buy your tickets, download them to the phone, and tap the phone at the turnstile to enter the show.”

Relevance to Bankwatch:
Its probably true that most banks have the chip card strategy in the ATM group, but it would be a mistake to exclude your technology strategists, and online banking people who probably see more of where this is really going.  Most are basing their chip strategy on fraud reduction.  The real meat, and consumer expectation will be more of a mobile / wireless / ecommerce play.

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