IDG Contributor Network: Visa's EMV struggle: Is better preferable to consistent?

When Visa introduced its Quick Chip for EMV on Tuesday (April 19), it placed retailers in an awkward — but interesting — position. The effort is a different EMV implementation that will allow shoppers to remove their payment card from the card reader in about two seconds, rather than what they have to today, which is to leave the card in the reader until the entire transaction is complete.

The good news: Quick Chip removes the most hated part of the EMV process, the part where the shopper has to leave the card in the card reader during the entire checkout duration. The bad news: Even though most consider this change to be highly favorable, it could actually set back EMV deployment efforts because it would be yet another behavior to learn. That forces the question: When the goal is mass adoption of a new behavior, is better necessarily preferable to consistent?

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