If you needed more evidence that the standard wallet is set to become a thing of the past, consider this: in the last three years, the value of transactions processed via mobile phone technology has soared from US$1 billion to US$30 billion.
Those of us who remained attached to bills, plastic and loyalty cards by the dozen crammed in the leather may cling to tradition but it could be just a matter of years before the digital revolution will render the wallet void of anything other than sentimental value.
Jim Tobin, senior vice-president and general manager of Mobile Solutions for the global multi-billion dollar giant Fiserv, paints a bold picture of the future of banking; one where tellers, bank books and billfolds have been made redundant.
"Mobile wallets are around the corner. There were some starts and stops around contactless technologies but what's happening is people are using their mobile phones to do so much commerce now they are bypassing the resistance to having swipe technology."
Tobin, on a recent visit to Auckland where Fiserv has grown from a team of 80 to more than 200 since acquiring the Kiwi tech company M-Com, predicted that "2014 will be the big year for mobile wallets."
Consumers, at least those who haven't made the leap, will be naturally worried about security; either losing their phones and thus money or else having it siphoned out from under their nose.
Tobin says it's an understandable fear given the explosion of high-tech crimes and increasingly sophisticated computer based fraud. To counter those concerns he points to the surge in R&D aimed at tackling this problem.
"The greatest area of technology spend in the world right now is on mobile security. Computers are being rapidly displaced in some markets just by smartphones and in some markets by smartphones and tablets. Enterprises of all types including banks have to get that security right because they are betting their business on this technology."
It is estimated there are now more than two billion smartphone users worldwide and that number is set to soar as more people make the leap and also as costs come down. With consumers barreling in this direction by the million, Tobin said companies serving this marketplace have recognised a need to ensure security is second to none in priority.
"The effort around security for mobile is where all the best minds, all the best technologies are going. I think the security levels are going to be higher for mobile phones and tablets than they ever have been for PCs."
While mobile banking technology allows for contactless payments, ATM withdrawals and other financial transactions that used to be done via a computer, the facility has also presented other possibilities, including peer to peer lending, and as a form of basic banking for fringe sector customers whom might normally be turned away from banks.
Tobin says in bringing together such a wide range of technology experts from around the world to work here in New Zealand where Fiserv's mobile "centre for excellence" has been situated, has given the company international insights on trends and also potential applications.
"Our office here is a wonderful group of young New Zealanders but it's also people from all over Asia Pacific, and Russia and China and those people bring not only their skills but an awareness of what's going on in their local economies."
But there’s an ongoing government-press conflict that also is important in its effect on journalists’ ability to gather news and report to the rest of us, and to the proper role of a free press under the First Amendment. Journalists — reporters and photographers — are being arrested while reporting on public demonstrations or police activity on matters of public interest. In a latest example, Charlotte Observer religion reporter Tim Funk was arrested June 10 at the General Assembly building in Raleigh, N.C., while interviewing local clergy involved in legislative protests.
As seen in a video of the arrest posted on Facebook, Funk, a veteran reporter, was interviewing members of the protest group while wearing a Charlotte Observer identification card on a lanyard around his neck. He continued to do interviews with several protesters after police ordered the group to disperse. He is standing in front of, not among, the group.
Funk first is grabbed by the arm and then handcuffed with a plastic tie. Later, the reporter was escorted away by three uniform officers. An Observer news story said Funk “was taken along with the arrested protesters to the Wake County magistrate’s office to be arraigned on misdemeanor charges of trespassing and failure to disperse.”
Gathering news — and in the process, performing the Constitutional duty as a “watchdog on government” that the nation’s founders envisioned for a free press — requires more than getting a few facts from official sources. It means being at the scene, talking with those involved, observing the news firsthand.
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