Mobile Wallet Technology: The New Barbarians are at the Gate

As I discussed in Part One, the sky is the limit when it comes to mobile wallet technology. The big brand credit card issuers: American Express, MasterCard, Visa, and Discover Card, along with every other card issuer and wannabe credit extension intermediary are all already into the mobile wallet space. Their offerings vary and competition between them will be as brutal as it always has been. And that's good for consumers. Creating choices for consumers to drive business will lead to more innovation and more services offered at more competitive prices. At least, that's the way the free market is supposed to work. But, traditional credit card issuers that are forcing banks to compete to offer credit to card borrowers, aren't the "disintermediators" I talked about in Part One. They help spread banking relationships across the spectrum, they do not remove banks from the equation. And because banks are all in the present equation, pricing pressures aren't prevalent and fees and costs remain stubbornly high. But as you'll see, that's about to change.