This is a very good point, and I'm glad you brought it up. I've been thinking about this thread the whole day, and what I was forced to realise was that there are at least 4 players involved right now: the consumer, the merchant, the financial institution, and Visa/MC/Amex/Etc. In addition, many other players have decided they want to join the game (Amazon, Google, PayPal, the phone companies, etc.) With everyone pushing and pulling in different directions, it'll be very difficult to get a standard that everyone will agree on.

I can only speak as a consumer. As a consumer, primarily I want the following: a method of payment that allows me to pay for anything, anywhere in the world without having to use cash.

For the most part, that exisits today. I can carry a Visa card, and it is very likely that I can pay for just about anything, anywhere. But there are still problems. For example, last week I was in Mexico City and needed to buy some supplies at an OfficeMax. Pretty straight forward transaction. Except at the POS their system would not accept my EMV-enabled Amex card. They can accept Amex, just not my Amex because of the EMV chip.

A few hours later I was shopping at a high end mall visited by many tourists and expats. I went to pay for my purchases at one store, and the man at the counter informed me that they only accepted "national" cards. His terminal could not process transactions from foreign cards.

So there are still limitations, and room for improvement, to the method we use today. Anything that comes in the future has to address this problem. There has to be a more uniform, standardised method. What works in Toronto should also work in Mexico City and in San Francisco and in Nairobi and in Moscow.

But as you say, to what extent do consumers have the power in this market? It was the networks (Visa/MC) that pushed for EMV with merchants kicking and screaming all the way. The banks are not known for innovation themselves these days. They'd rather throw tons of rewards points at the consumer and charge the merchants for them. And as I said, consumers just want to be able to pay. But the merchants? They're the ones bearing the cost, for the most part. Whatever comes next has to make it easier and especially cheaper for them than dealing with cash or cards as we know them today.