Wonderful Wearables
by Tom McCole

One of the amazing things about retail payment technology is the rapid rate of change and development of new products and business models. In the not-so-distant past, we have migrated from carrying cash for purchases to paying with plastic cards. We evolved from knuckle-busting imprinters and manual lookup of bad card lists to dial-up verification via payment terminals. Recently, payment technology has progressed to “tap to pay” contactless credit verification via smartphones. The next gen of contactless payments employs wearables as the emerging consumer method for electronic payments. Smartwatches, fitness trackers, smart wristbands, key fobs, and now smart rings all support contactless payments.

Most wearables all have built-in NFC contactless communication technology just like existing payment cards, providing meaningful convenience for the consumer. Payment wearables eliminate the bottomless purse excavation or wallet searching for your payment and brand loyalty cards, providing a faster and simpler checkout experience.

The current generation of popular smartwatches from Samsung, Google, Garmin, and Apple all support contactless payments via their corresponding wallets. NFC payment is but one of many useful features of these devices that make them live up to their “smart” label. Today’s smartwatches also provide substantial personal health data, weather, news, sports, and wrist access to a plethora of additional apps.

The latest innovation in wellness wearables is smart rings. Samsung and Oura are the current market leaders focusing on biometric measurement rings. They typically employ sensors for reporting health, fitness, sleep apnea, (snoring), and stress tracking information. Samsung also owns Samsung Pay and is one of the world’s largest electronic innovators, so it is not a moonshot for them to add NFC payments to their smart ring.

But wait there’s more! Several European smart ring innovators have developed ring-based NFC payment capabilities to enable faster transactions and consumer convenience. Simply placing your ring finger over any NFC payment terminal or reader allows the contactless payment transaction to occur as it normally would if using a chip card or cell phone. Astari, a Dutch wearable payment pioneer, has developed two additional contactless form factors in the form of a bracelet and a keychain that can make NFC payments as well as start your Tesla!

Payment wearables as an industry is just getting started. Merchants and consumers are always seeking new transaction efficiencies and convenience. Contactless payments in all forms provide eminent value to both. NFC-enabled cards, smartphones, smart watches, and rings are the evolutionary stages to reach the pinnacle where Amazon One has arrived–biometric palm readers!

Tom McCole is a veteran payment technology executive and business development consultant based in Atlanta. Tom@mmtmagonline.com