Visa Inc. isn’t about to pull the plug on Visa Checkout, but judging from comments Visa’s top executives made Wednesday, the online and mobile-payment service’s long-term outlook looks quite iffy.
The future of both Visa Checkout and Mastercard Inc.’s Masterpass equivalent was called into question last week when The Wall Street Journal reported they will be phased out in favor of a new, single buy button that the payment networks are developing under newly released specifications from standards body EMVCo. Ever since, however, network spokespersons have refused to confirm that Visa Checkout and Masterpass are on Death Row.
What is clear is that Visa’s leadership is quite enthusiastic about the new buy button. Visa Checkout’s future role, if any, seems likely to be greatly diminished.
