Anuj Nayar, Senior Director of Global Initiatives, PayPal
For years the industry has talked about the potential of digital payments, but everyone was waiting on consumer awareness to magically kick in. Now, it's actually started to happen - consumers increasingly began to see the value of apps like Uber and our very own Venmo to get what they want when they want it. Time Magazine recently voted Venmo as a top 10 app for 2014 (Venmo came in at number 4 after Snapchat, Uber and Whatsapp - three companies that definitely attracted interest from everyone, including Wall Street, in 2014).
Bill Ready, the Chief Executive at Braintree, summarized the direction this is taking for ReadWrite – all of our mobile experiences will become so easy and convenient, we’ll look to our mobile devices for most of our needs, whether it’s a phone or a wearable. Reports are saying mobile payments are going to nearly triple in size over the next few years.
And this isn’t just for your typical shopping sites. Our Chief Product Officer, Hill Ferguson, made a few call outs today in a TechCrunch piece that got me really excited about the year ahead. Can you imagine if the convenience we see when sending money on today’s apps can be applied to our social shopping? Our favorite platforms for discovery like Facebook and Pinterest will no longer be limited to search, but will expand our See it, Want it, Own it experiences.
Any hassle left in inserting credit card numbers or passwords will begin to fade. And Hill explains that we’re actually becoming safer as we move away from these hassles with new authentication capabilities like fingerprint authentication.
So where to next? From what our team thinks, if companies follow their recommendations to stay ahead next year, 2015 is going to bring on a new wave of connectedness that means your every day life is about to get a whole lot easier.
Have a happy New Year, everyone.