Chase Pay

Jason Del Rey, reporting for Recode:

Gordon Smith, Chase’s CEO of consumer and community banking, made the announcement at the Money20/20 payments conference in Las Vegas on Monday. In a video outlining the new product, Chase showed shoppers paying in stores by displaying a QR code to the cashier, not by tapping and paying through NFC technology like Apple Pay and Android Pay. The video also shows a diner paying at a restaurant by taking a photo of the bill.

Nothing involving QR codes has ever taken off. Good job wasting time on this, Chase.

Update: A few points in response to feedback:

  • QR codes are huge in China. Who cares? Chase isn’t a Chinese bank. Chase Pay is for the United States.

  • Starbucks has had great success with their code-scanner system. OK, that’s a good data point. Touché. I still say it stinks, though — and Apple Pay is coming soon.

  • Snapchat uses QR codes. Boarding passes for airlines and trains are usually QR codes. Not going to help Chase Pay. Boarding passes in particular: the QR code scanning is so flaky that most of the TSE checkpoints I’ve gone through recently require you to place your phone face down on their scanner.

  • When you pair your Apple Watch with your iPhone using the camera, that animation on the watch face is just a fancy equivalent of a QR code. Sure, I agree — but I’ve gone through that pairing process at least half a dozen times, with multiple watches and OS restores, and in my experience it can be so flaky that it doesn’t work.

I admit it was hyperbole to say that nothing involving QR codes has taken off — but I think it’s fair to say that nothing involving QR codes results in a good experience.

★ Monday, 26 October 2015