The mobile wallet landscape continues to evolve. In the almost three years since the release of Apple Pay, we have seen other handset manufacturers and a mobile iOS provider release mobile wallets of their own. We have also seen several merchants, issuers and brands throw their hats in the mobile wallet game. Meanwhile, we have also seen a few other potential mobile wallet providers withdraw their solutions from the marketplace. Financial institutions continue to try their best to keep up with the ever-changing landscape so they can develop and adopt digital strategies that allow them to keep their payment products in the game. Financial institutions have employed a wide array of strategies from wait and see to more cutting edge.
CSCU continues to monitor the latest technologies to help credit unions better understand the varying features of mobile wallets and to give an overall picture of their position in the marketplace. To that end, we published a CSCU thought leadership brief to help credit unions understand the varying features of mobile wallets and to provide an overall picture of their position in the marketplace.
Ultimately, the "winners" in the mobile wallet wars will be determined by adoption with issuers, merchants, and consumers. No one party will be able to dictate which mobile wallet will be used and ultimately successful. This isn't to suggest that numerous other parties and factors won't also play a role in a mobile wallet's success. Many factors and parties such as issuers and merchant processors, brands, mobile wallet developers, payment revenue expenses and overall economics, technology platforms, security and education will be equally important to determine mobile wallet winners and losers. These forces contribute to the complexity of mobile wallet adoption.
Recommended For You
To add to the complexity, there are many definitions of wallets, including mobile wallets, online wallets, and digital wallets. For the purpose of comparing mobile wallets, the CSCU brief concentrates on wallets that are apps on mobile devices which can be used at a point of sale. Some of these apps can also be used online as well. There are digital wallets, such as Visa Checkout, which can be used to make a purchase from an online merchant. Some of the mobile apps below can or will someday also be able to be used in a similar manner; however, further blurring the lines between in-app and online and between mobile and digital.
Furthermore, it's not a given that the consumers want one single wallet. A wallet that works in their favorite pharmacy that also integrates that pharmacy's loyalty program, one wallet to order ahead to their favorite fast food and have the food delivered to the vehicle, and one app that came native with the phone to use for in-app purchases, is a completely conceivable scenario given the current state of the technology.
So how do we make sense of it all? Where do we even start? There are many elements to consider when analyzing the various mobile wallet alternatives. The CSCU brief discusses several differentiating factors that can be used to categorize the various alternatives. Understanding the differentiations will allow us to understand the various mobile wallets and how they stack up to other alternatives in the marketplace today…and even those mobile wallets that are yet to come.
Click here to download a copy of the CSCU Mobile Pays brief.
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
