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10/10/2011 -
Most would agree that Steve Jobs had a massive impact on the world of technology during his life, which was cut short on October 5 by complications from pancreatic cancer. Under Jobs' leadership, Apple changed the world of computers, communications and music. However, Jobs also affected the credit card and payment processing industry, as Fox Business notes.For example, Jobs and Apple helped usher in the mobile money movement. While Jobs did not invent the concept of mobile banking, the iPhone challenged the previous limitations of a cellphone, turning these devices into ways to check email, play music, use a GPS, take pictures and surf the internet. Smartphones have also become an avenue to manage money, make payments and process credit card charges, and these capabilities are seemingly increasing in popularity by the day thanks to the growing number of applications available that can perform these functions.
Fox Business explains that Jobs "has helped many an entrepreneur by paving the way for all the credit card apps that allow people to make sales on the fly at trade shows, country fairs and kiosks around the country. With at least a couple dozen apps coming out in recent years, a business person can make a sale and take a credit card payment through a cellphone, simplifying the transaction and avoiding the need to handle cash or wait for checks to clear."
Another one of Jobs' societal impacts that has affected the credit card payment world was his ability to make technology accessible and understandable, inspiring millions of people to shelve their CD players for iPods, their DVDs for digital media and their desktop computers for portable tablets. This affinity for change has also translated to the mobile payment processing community, as many people have similarly embraced the concept for walletless, contactless transactions.
According to Mashable, there are $240 billion worth of annual mobile payment transactions, and that market is expected to double or even triple in the next five years. Throughout that time period, a number of mobile money milestones will be reached. The site expects that one in five cellphones will be capable of making near field communication (NFC) transactions. By 2014, Mashable predicts that NFC transactions will total $50 billion alone and that 50 percent of cellphones will come equipped with NFC technology.
