Exclusive: Target in initial development of own mobile wallet - sources
It started with Google Wallet … Tyler Lee / Ubergizmo : Target Rumored To Be Working On Own Mobile Payments Service Sarah Perez / TechCrunch : Target May Launch Its Own Mobile Wallet Next Year Karl Utermohlen / InvestorPlace : Target Mobile Wallet Could Launch Next Year Jacob Kleinman / TechnoBuffalo : Target secretly developing mobile payment app Joe Rossignol / MacRumors : Target Working on QR Code Mobile Wallet as Apple Pay Holdout Continues Colin Lecher / The Verge : Target is reportedly working on a mobile payments system of its own MacNN : Target reportedly working on own mobile payments platform Kevin Tofel / ZDNet : Like Walmart, Target thinks we need more mobile payment apps; they're both wrong PYMNTS.com : Is Target Developing Its Own Mobile Wallet? Usman / iPhone in Canada Blog : Target Reportedly Developing its Own Mobile Wallet Mary Beth Quirk / Consumerist : Report: Target Is Considering Its Own Mobile Wallet App Brittany A. Roston / SlashGear : Target tipped in plan to launch mobile payment system Zac Hall / 9to5Mac : Target reportedly developing its own Apple Pay-like mobile wallet service Robert Nazarian / Digital Trends : Look out, Apple Pay and Android Pay — here comes Target Pay Leena Rao / Fortune : Report: Target to Launch a Mobile Wallet Alex Wagner / PhoneDog.com : Target said to be working on its own mobile payment service Joe White / App Advice : Target is taking on Apple Pay with its own mobile wallet service Billy Steele / Entrepreneur : Target May Create Its Own Mobile Payment System Rian Boden / NFC World+ : Target to launch its own mobile payment service? Gina Hall / bizjournals : Apple, Samsung sign deals with UnionPay to bring competing mobile payment systems to China Tweets: William Moss / @imagethief : Because they were such awesome stewards of my credit card information before? http://twitter.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
Target's reported wallet project slots into a 2015 wave of platform payments: Google had just launched Android Pay across 1,000+ apps and 700,000 US stores, and Apple Pay was pushing NFC checkout. MacRumors' coverage frames Target as an Apple Pay holdout exploring a QR-code-based wallet instead — meaning the retailer would rather build its own rail than adopt a competitor's.
The pattern didn't stop at rumors: CVS Health shipped its own CVS Pay app across four states in 2016, and two years later Target converted this development effort into the Wallet feature inside its iOS and Android apps. Retailers were deciding that the checkout moment was worth owning outright.
First-order effects
- Target keeps control of its checkout data and payment flow at its own registers, and Apple Pay remains locked out of one of America's largest retail chains.
Second-order effects
- Rival merchants face pressure to match rather than accept: CVS Health's move to launch CVS Pay in 2016 shows the merchant-built wallet spreading through drug and general retail.
Third-order effects
- If merchant wallets keep proliferating, US mobile payments fragment into store-by-store apps instead of one universal tap-to-pay layer, with each retailer using its wallet as a data and loyalty capture point.
The trend: US retail is splitting mobile payments between platform wallets like Apple Pay and Android Pay and proprietary merchant apps that trade interoperability for customer data.