AUSTIN, Texas – Christina Nguyen White from Sapient thinks the growing hole in your back jeans pocket is getting a bit too personal. And swiping your card is so 2000-and-late. Why swipe when you can just scan? She asked in her panel “Thin Is In – The Future of Digital Wallets.”
We managed to get hold of the slides and have pasted some of the more interesting ones below:
In the name of better figure hugging jeans, when will we be able to lose those bulky wallets without losing the cash? The answer? Apparently digital wallets are within very close reach – with RFIDs, QR codes, and Big-Brother-like tracking all stepping up to the payment plate.
Forget checking in, we’re talking about checking out
Checking out with your phone is becoming almost as cool as checking IN on Foursquare, grabbing coupons digitally to take advantage of digital discounts is almost effortless, as is scanning your digital ticket at Friday’s ballgame.
Are you a miser? No problem, you can still digitally split the bill with your friends using your phone. Retailers are edging towards digital, says White, who warns that the industry will have to understand that this will have significant impact and completely change the way we interact with our mobile phones.
The UI of a digital wallet will be one of the biggest success factors for adoption, said White, noting “Keep it simple. Gradually Enhance.” Indeed, keep-it-simple-stupid seems to be a theme today, along with “patience.”
The digital wallet, we’re told, needs to find it’s relevant place within the shopping eco-system and while the gap between social and commerce is closing, we’re not quite there yet.
