Softcard’s Closure Puts Dent In Gemalto’s Mobile Revenue

The now-defunct mobile payment service Softcard hasn’t made the headlines in a while, but its name showed up again yesterday (Aug. 27) when Gemalto, a mobile chip and smart card maker, reported its mobile revenue figures, Reuters reported.

While the chipmaker said it saw a 33-percent boost in profit from operators in the first half of the year, it also revealed the closure of Softcard would cause its mobile revenue growth to take a dip. But on the plus side, Gemalto reported that it’s anticipating double-digit profit growth until 2017.

In February it was announced that Google had effectively acquired Softcard, the mobile payments system backed by Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile, and will pay the mobile carriers to enable Google Wallet on the Android smartphones they sell. That deal finally put an end to four years of wrangling between the mobile carriers and Google, during which Apple created its own mobile payments system and captured the lion’s share of in-store mobile payments with Apple Pay.

The deal also ended a long-standing feud between the two in-store mobile payment efforts. The three mobile carriers who backed Softcard actively blocked Google Wallet from using the NFC chip in smartphones the carriers sold.

Most recently, it was reported that EMV card issuance jumped by more than 27 percent in 2014 over the previous year, with key growth coming from the United States and China, according to ABI Research. This, obviously, will help Gemalto’s bottom line.

In the statement announcing the latest survey results, ABI Research’s Phil Sealy, a senior analyst, noted, “Although future growth for EMV card volumes may be limited, other revenue avenues are opening.”

“All the major players including Gemalto, Oberthur Technologies, Giesecke & Devrient and Morpho are balancing strategies in a bid to address next-generation opportunities,” Sealy added.

[vc_row full_width=”” parallax=”” parallax_image=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”” parallax=”” parallax_image=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_separator color=”grey” align=”align_center” style=”” border_width=”” el_width=””][vc_single_image image=”148412″ alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_shadow_3d” border_color=”grey” img_link_large=”” img_link_target=”_blank” css_animation=”left-to-right” img_size=”full” link=”http://pymnts-com-develop.go-vip.net/whats-hot-today/”][vc_column_text css_animation=””]

To check out what else is HOT in the world of payments, click here.

[/vc_column_text][vc_separator color=”grey” align=”align_center” style=”” border_width=”” el_width=””][/vc_column][/vc_row]