The Future of Payments amid COVID 19
Back in 2014 when Apple introduced Apple Pay I did not think much of it. In fact I brushed it off saying “I will never pay using this method.” Well you know what they say. “Never say never,” and that could not be more true.
Fast forward to early 2019 I was at Whole Foods getting groceries. As I was getting ready to pay I reached into my pocket only to realize that I did not have my wallet on me. My wallet was not even in my car. No it was all the way back at home. A good fifteen minute drive away. I told the employee that I did not have my wallet and he had to put my stuff aside so that other people would not be held up.
In a moment of intense thought on what to do next I phoned up my sister and asked her to send me a picture of the front and back of my credit card. She did just that and I thought all my issues were solved, but no. I went back to the employee to pay for the groceries and he told me that we cannot enter in your card details like that, and that I would have to set up Apple Pay in order to pay.
I spent the next 10 minutes setting up Apple Pay just to pay for my groceries, and continue on with my day. Now one could say that I should have been more vigilant in the first place, but I am only human and mistakes happen. But this was a defining moment for me. This experience made me realize the important shift that technology was making.
Mobile payments have been on an upward trend ever since they have come out, but now due to the spread of COVID, 2020 has seen an explosion of growth with mobile payments.
With social distancing orders in place 2020 has been the year that humanity has had to learn how to adapt and quickly, and this is where mobile payments have come into play. In a world where touching surfaces can have dire consequences for us mobile payments have offered an alternative method to pay. In grocery stores now instead of pulling out your credit card to pay, people are paying via there phones. I went to a restaurant the other day and they had QR sticker codes on there tables, and it works like so. You put your camera to it and it communicates with your phone via NFC (Near Field Communications), and from that you can access the restaurant menu as well as pay the bill all from your phone. Witnessing this I can say that this will be the future of how restaurants will operate in regards to ordering and paying. Gone are the days of having physical menus and a waiter coming and collecting the checks. Everything will be done from the phone. Technology once again will radically transform everything.
With all this said mobile payments more than ever will have a greater impact on our society more than we could have ever imagined. I would not be surprised if in the future technology will replace our whole physical wallet entirely.
