It's been a while since I blogged here at Finextra (for many reasons)... Today is a special occasion. The day Apple (and I) said "FU!" (You'll understand the context better if you glance through my December
2013 post.)
To those who doubted Apple will do NFC. And those who refused to listen about the consequences of Apple doing so...
To all those who doubted wearables will make it (VERY!) big. And will be useful and "everyday" practical (March 2013 - Apple is still missing some
interesting functions I talked about...). And cool (different case materials and straps - genius!).
To those who measured things by Google i.e. those who forgot that companies like Apple make money by designing beautiful things we need, like and want, not by peddling our private data or stuffing ads down our throat. That's why Google et al couldn't make
mobile payments work - their business model was flawed (BTW, pay attention to my comment re VeriFone in that December 2013 post as Apple forgot to mention that iPhone/iPad will soon become your payment terminal...)
To PayPal, Visa and MasterCard who kept insisting they own "one-touch e-commerce" (to become "card present" soon, just as I said back in December 2013) and refused to hear the alarm bell...
To those who funded Clinkles of this world; to MCX; to SoftCard (formerly known as ISIS) - who failed to understand, time and time again, what mobile payments are about...
To mobile operators - who... Argh, forget about it...
The message was loud and clear - if you keep thinking just about your bottom (line), you'll get nothing but crap. Instead, think about "insanely great" - design, user experience, business model. And keep your eyes and ears open - even Apple "borrowed" tons
of stuff from "third parties" (have a look at Jumio's card scan, for example).
There was one word missing in today's Tim Cook's presentation. Transit. There are many companies out there who still don't get it (but should...) And those who forget that not everyone will have iPhone 6... See you here in a year.