Comments on: A digital wallet isn’t a digital version of a physical wallet

By: Andrew Smith

Andrew Smith — Fri, 02 Aug 2013 12:25:42 +0000

I agree a digital wallet needs to do more than just be a digital version of my physical wallet, it needs to be intelligent and help make my life easier. Im not a fan of "interconnected" for everything, as it isn't realistic. There are far too many security and internal politics issues to ever resolve to make that happen. However, we could start by trying to make sure wallets are intelligent and aren't just about payments.

Everytime I see a new "Wallet" for my phone, it is centred almost entirely around making a single payment with my debit / credit card. Yes, that's a must, but that is never going to make us consumers ditch our wallets and start making all payments with mobile devices, the argument / experience isn't compelling enough for us to change our habits. Likewise, there are very few arguments that compel any business to engage in mobile payments...

For me, mobile wallets need to deliver added value to my shopping experience and incentives for me to change. It also has to do the same for a business if it is ever to be a success. This means a wallet needs to of course facilitate payments, but has to have everything else I expect in my wallet, deals, vouchers, loyalty schemes, discount cards, memberships etc, but also deliver them to me in an intelligent fashion that makes my life much easier.

By: Consult Hyperion

Consult Hyperion — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 01:45:10 +0000

Hi. It’s Dave’s lovely assistant here. We have carried out the draw and the winner is Al H. We will email you Al H.

By: Al H

Al H — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 09:58:51 +0000

Albert camus – naturally

By: Tom G

Tom G — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 08:50:45 +0000

Albert Camus!

By: Mauricio de Almeida Pradoo

Mauricio de Almeida Pradoo — Sat, 08 Jun 2013 10:38:29 +0000

I agree it isn’t a digital version of the physical wallet, but to develop the digital one we need to deeply understand the physical wallet usage and purpose. A digital wallet that only focus on money transactions and loyalty will not replace the physical one, since people will still need a container to carry driver’s license, ID cards, medical cards, library cards, etc…A curious semantic idea: it seems the main role of the wallet today is to carry cards that identify and connect us to institutions (bank, gym, work, government, medical, transport). All these institutions use numbers to identify us in their data systems. Therefore we could say that the physical wallet is already a digital wallet because it connect us to institutions through digits. The cards are just a materialization of these digits (with identification/ authentication technology). The answer is Albert Camus.

By: Olivier

Olivier — Sat, 08 Jun 2013 07:06:51 +0000

Albert Camus, of course.

Damn, too bad I won't be in London un June...

By: Albert Camus

Albert Camus — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 11:04:11 +0000

If money is money, do we need wallets at all?