No one would call MasterCard‘s innovation strategy minor. Not only has MC stepped up its internal innovation — most notably through the global launch of its MasterPass mobile payments initiative — but it has invested mightily in repositioning the payments company as an innovation leader. The best and most recent example of that was its acquisition of C-SAM just last February to turbocharge its MasterPass roll out. And then I read the transcript from MasterCard’s earnings conference call yesterday. I wonder whether MasterCard has too many innovative initiates. Let me explain. Ajay Banga, president and CEO of MasterCard, described the company’s innovation strategy yesterday as agnostic to any particular technology or strategy. Here’s how he explained it: But at the same time, as I’ve said in my remarks, we’re also working on different ways in which the mobile payments industry will develop. It could be through secure elements, it could be through postcard innovation. And there are different levels of interest from banks, merchants and hardware and M&O [ph] providers on those two elements. And then there’s of course the more old-fashioned way of mobile payments which is really more for transfers which is the SMS or simple wallet-based transfer of money. […]
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